The Village Guardian
by Dr. Mack Foxx
Summary: Part 1 of 3. Dr. Mack Foxx, a scientist and inventor from another world, discovers a hidden village, filled with secrets. However, he soon runs afoul of Cipher. Fans of Gardevoir, Kirlia and Ralts, in particular, may enjoy this story.
1. Section 1

Barely a year after completing his own Pokémon journey, Dr. Mack Foxx, a scientist and inventor from another world, retires back to his hidden laboratory. After a freak earthquake rocks the local mountain range, Mack sets off to find the cause, unaware of what lays ahead of him: a criminal organization and a hidden village, filled with secrets.

A Pokémon fan-fiction written by Philip "Dr. Mack Foxx" Byard with some help from Aaron "Aaraboga Jones" Byard

This is a work of fan-fiction and may not be modified or sold under any circumstances.

Original Story, Characters and all other Original Content are Copyright 1987, 1995, 1999 and 2006 Philip "Dr. Mack Foxx" Byard and Aaron "Aaraboga Jones" Byard

Pokémon and all related content and characters are Copyright 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2006 to Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures and The Pokémon Company

**-The Village Guardian-**

**-1-**

Today started out like any normal day for Dr. Mack Foxx. Mack was sitting comfortably in a chair in front of one of his super-computers. He was drinking a cup of coffee and reflecting on what had happened during his journey over the last several years. This journey started in his home town with the completion of a new device for his star fighter, named, the _Firefox_. This device allowed Mack to travel between dimensions and even through time. All seemed well the day he left his lab back home. Mack had no idea that someone had sabotaged the _Firefox_. Thus began a long, strange journey through one dimension after another, until he finally wound up here: in the world of Pokémon. Just barely a year ago, Mack's journey with his friends Ash, Misty, Brock and others had finally come to an end. After releasing all his Pokémon back into the wild, Mack retired back to his hidden laboratory to complete his latest projects as well as make repairs to the _Firefox_. As Mack's robotic companion, K-1, pointed out, the intricate systems on the _Firefox_ had been severely damaged hundreds of times so far from frequent crash-landings into dimensions. K-1 had been discovered in a forest a few miles north of Mack's home. Mack managed to repair K-1, who looked like a large, metal cat's head on a steel box with legs. K-1 also had some doors in his chest which he could open and then extent arms from. Due to the damage, K-1 estimated that it would be roughly 5 more years until the _Firefox_ would be fit to send them home. Mack was getting so bored; he was just about ready to start another Pokémon journey. He looked to the left and stared at his glass trophy case. Inside the case, all the badges and trophies he had won were on display. His super-computer crackled to life.

"Good morning, doctor," said the computer with a feminine voice.

"Ah. Good morning to you as well, Central," replied Mack as he drank the last of his coffee. Central was an artificial intelligence program that Mack had developed while he was in his home world. Mack had made sure that Central was uploaded to the _Firefox_ before he departed and now Central resided quite comfortably within a much more powerful computer.

"I still can't get a trace on that recent seismic disturbance," said Central. Just minutes ago, a powerful earthquake had rocked an area that had never experienced quakes since record keeping began. Not only that, but the quake only effected a few square miles. The magnitude of this quake should have destroyed the terrain for several hundred miles from the epicenter. Instead, there was almost no physical evidence that a quake had even occurred. Central had been shaken up and had to spend most of her power on restoring corrupted data, hindering the effort of locating the quake's epicenter. The quake was strange, but was of little concern to Mack, compared to his latest invention. Mack stood up and walked to another display case. This case contained a new cannon he had developed for his S-100 Type I battle armor: the Capture Claw. The capture claw was designed for one purpose: to instantly capture wild Pokémon. After all, Mack was about to start another Pokémon journey and had no Pokémon of his own left. Mack was not about to use heavy weapons to get his first new Pokémon. The capture claw would make acquiring a Pokémon painless and almost effortless. Of course, the S-100 was a work of art in itself. This suit of electronic armor had been in development for thousands of years. Mack has constantly been improving the design since his journey began, adding more devices, more powerful weapons and also improving the power and shield generators. Thicker, stronger armor didn't hurt much either. Fortunately, Mack had never had to break out this awesome weapon of war in the world of Pokémon. His Pokémon were always ready to defend their trainer and his friends, but now Mack had no Pokémon. With rumors of Cipher being in the area, Mack was not going to take any chances. Cipher reminded Mack of Team Rocket, an organization that was formed to conquer the world using Pokémon. Team Rocket, of course, was no more. However, Mack had heard that Cipher was proving to be more ruthless and dangerous than Team Rocket, Aqua and Magma combined. Still, this was all based on rumors. Few people even believed that Cipher even existed. Mack pondered this thought until the lights in the lab went dim.

"Now what…?" muttered Mack.

"There appears to be a problem with the power conduit at the ground surface," said Central as Mack grabbed the capture claw and ran for an elevator. Mack grumbled about his bad luck. The last time this happened, whatever had caused the power fluctuation was long gone by the time Mack had gotten to the surface, only to find the panels on the conduit torn apart. As the elevator ascended, Mack pressed some switches on his watch and instantly, his armor appeared and unfolded all over his body. He clipped the capture claw into a slot on the back of the armor's right shoulder. Mack wondered what kind of Pokémon was causing the trouble and the possibilities were enough to make Mack chuckle with glee. When the elevator door opened, Mack was somewhat disappointed. Just as the door opened, he saw several Pikachu run from the conduit. There were still at least a dozen of them holding live wires that had been torn form the conduit. Why, the little rodents were leaching off power from the lab!

"Wonderful…" thought Mack as he started waving his arms around.

"Go on! Get lost!" shouted Mack as he tried to scare off the timid Pikachu. Most of them ran off, but one of them stubbornly held onto a live wire and continued to leech off the high voltage.

"Hey! I said to get lost!" thundered Mack as he stomped towards the Pikachu. The Pikachu let go of the wire and casually turned towards the strange metal beast.

"Pika," said the Pikachu rather smugly as its checks lit up with electricity. Before Mack could realize what was happening, the electric rodent fired off a bolt of lighting right at him. Mack dodged out of the way just in time. The S-100 helped make Mack more agile, but he still almost took a direct hit. Mack stared at the Pikachu. The Pikachu glared back. This was a first for this veteran trainer. Mack had always heard that Pikachus were timid and shy, but this one certainly had a bad attitude. The onboard computers also confirmed that this particular Pikachu was unusually strong. The Pikachu continued to glare at Mack.

"It's toying with me," thought Mack, "The little bugger is sitting there, waiting for me to make the next move." Mack slowly tilted the capture claw down into position while the onboard computers acquired a targeting lock. The Pikachu suddenly charged Mack, blazing with an aura of electricity.

"Bad move, buddy!" laughed Mack as he fired the capture claw. The cannon came to life with a loud "BANG!" and the Pikachu was enveloped in a beam of red light. The light turned the Pikachu into a ball of energy and then quickly dragged it down into the barrel. There was a loud "HISS!" as steam vented from the cannon. A few seconds later, a Pokéball was dispensed from the cannon. Mack clutched the Pokéball in his gauntlets, staring at it in disbelief. The capture claw had worked better than Mack had ever expected. He figured it would take several repeated tries to capture a Pokémon and he would probably have to weaken it first.

"Well, looks like you're staying with me, little fella," said Mack with a grin as he boarded the elevator and headed back for the lab. He would have K-1 repair the conduit later. Mack removed his faceplate as the door opened. The lab was one of the few places he could do this. Mack was certainly not human, but more of a human/fox hybrid. Now this life form was common in Mack's world, but not in this one. Whenever he went out in public, he wore a mask, black leather gloves and a trench coat to help hide his tail. Not only did he stick out like a sore thumb in his disguise, but he had to explain often that a horrible accident had destroyed his face and that no doctor could fix it. So far, no one caught on.

**-2-**

Cecil Drake: a name known far and wide throughout Cipher, for he was one of the top administrators. So far, his plan was working. The moderate quake had shaken up the local village. Soon, it would come. Cecil had been waiting for this moment for over a year. Soon, he would have what he needed for what he thought would be the ultimate shadow Pokémon. Cecil turned towards his assistant, Dr. Newman. Dr. Newman was an enigma within Cipher. No one really knew where he came from and why he always had a team of Alakazams following him everywhere.

"Do remind me what we are doing here?" asked Dr. Newman as he fiddled with his computer.

"You've forgotten, eh?" replied Cecil as he coldly stared at Dr. Newman, "We are here for one reason: to capture an unusually strong Pokémon. With it, we will have the makings for quite possibly the most powerful shadow Pokémon ever."

"What about the rumors of this XD001?" asked Dr. Newman.

"Bah! They're thinking too small. Besides, that project has been in development for months now with no results! They have yet to even find the right Pokémon for their project. However, I've been watching this Pokémon for months and know exactly what to do. No other admin in Cipher has a clue what I'm about to bring in," said Cecil triumphantly. Something on one of the video monitors in the room caught Dr. Newman's eye.

"What have we here?" said Dr. Newman as he walked over to the monitor for a closer look.

"Excellent. The cameras have spotted it," declared Cecil, "Do we still have that prototype?"

"The Master Ball? It's still in storage under lock and key," reporter Dr. Newman.

"Good. Have it brought up to me at once. I'm going to set out at once and intercept it," said Cecil as he started to leave the room. Dr. Newman did not quite understand what was happening. Why would Cecil want this Pokémon so badly? More importantly, Dr. Newman had never seen this particular Pokémon before.

"Excuse me, sir," asked Dr. Newman quietly.

"What is it?" replied Cecil.

"Pardon me for asking, but what Pokémon is this?" asked Dr. Newman as he pointed at the monitor.

"Ah. That, my friend, is a Gardevoir. According to our research, this particular Gardevoir is the most powerful on record. For some reason, I have seen this one in the nearby village quite often," explained Cecil, "It always seems to react whenever the village is in danger. That moderate quake was just what we needed. It will track down the source of the quake and will ultimately stumble into my trap! One of the most powerful psychic Pokémon in existence and soon, it will be mine."

**-3-**

Mack had been looking everywhere for K-1 for the last hour: Where had he run off too? Mack figured it was as good a time as any to meet his new partner. With a flick of his wrist he let the Pokéball fly. With a bright flash it hit the floor, releasing the Pikachu into the lab.

"Pika? Pika-chu?" it said.

"Hmmm…it seems curious…" thought Mack as the Pikachu wandered about, "Reminds me of my old Pikachu…" K-1 came into the room.

"Good afternoon, Mack. I just finished fixing the GAH!!" shouted K-1 as he noticed the Pikachu. The little rodent made a beeline right to a power socket and was happily siphoning the power. "What is the meaning of this?!" demanded K-1.

"Calm down, K-1. I want to you to meet my new partner," said Mack, pointing to the happy rodent.

"Ah, another one. What will you name him?" asked K-1. Mack pondered for awhile.

"He seems a lot like my first Pikachu. I think I'll call him, William!" declared Mack.

"Pika-chu!" said William with delight.

"I see he likes his name," said K-1 as Central clicked to life.

"Here is the report, doctor," said Central.

"Okay. Lay it on me," said Mack as he sat back down at the console.

"All data restoration is complete…"

"Good," said Mack.

"I have also tracked the epicenter of the quake. It seems to be coming from Mt. Terror," explained Central.

"Mt. Terror? What kind of a name is that?" asked K-1.

"Apparently, the first group that climbed the peak had a horrible time. They all made it to the summit and back, but there were plenty of times when it seemed that one of them would fall to their death," explained Mack as he checked some maps of the region, "However, something doesn't ring true. None of these mountains within 200 miles have ever experienced earthquakes. This region is certainly not known for volcanoes.

"I suspect you're going to check it out?" asked K-1 with curiosity.

"Of course," answered Mack.

"I'll mark the exact spot on your armor's map," said Central as she looked at William with one of the cameras in the room, "I see the capture claw did not need any adjustments after all."

"Indeed," said Mack as he slipped the faceplate back into place. He ran for the elevator and started on his way back to the surface.

**-4-**

Cecil had been waiting for this moment. The Gardevoir was racing straight to the source of the quake and Cecil was right in the path, camouflaged behind some bushes. Cecil looked through some binoculars and soon caught sight of his prize. Cecil readied himself and got the Master Ball into his hands.

"This is it…" he muttered as Gardevoir unknowingly ran right to him. Cecil threw the Master Ball and it hit its mark, capturing Gardevoir.

"Success!" he laughed. Then, something odd happened: the Master Ball started jumping and shaking around violently.

"I thought the Master Ball never failed…" thought Cecil as the ball started to spark, "Heh. Fight all you want! You're mine!" The Master Ball suddenly stopped moving. Cecil ran over and grabbed his prize. He held the ball, perplexed. Never had anyone recorded a capture with a Master Ball like this one. The Master Ball had looked ready to explode. The capture was supposed to be smooth and without a fuss. Undaunted, he started back to the mountain base, chuckling about the possibilities.

**-5-**

Mack had been in hot pursuit, heading towards the source of the quake as fast as possible when something hit him. He stopped at once. For some reason, he sensed fear and sadness for a few seconds, and then the feeling vanished as quickly as it had come. Mack had all kinds of tricks in his arsenal. Aside from the S-100, Mack possessed strong psychic powers as well as an unusual power over light. He rarely used these abilities as they would weaken him quickly. More than once, he had nearly died in combat. Not from injuries, but from the overuse of his power, sapping almost all of his strength.

"How strange…" muttered Mack as he pressed some switches on his left gauntlet. Mack decided to check the area using his spectrum analysis visor. Using this visor he could see in the ultra-violet, infra-red and x-ray spectrums. Almost nothing could hide from him. Mack saw nothing on ultra-violet and normal heat from the infra-red mode. He soon picked out what looked like the entrance to a cave, roughly 20 miles from his position.

"May as well check there," thought Mack as he ran towards the cave. He continued his jog until something else caught his eye. "Hmmm?" Mack clearly saw what looked like a small town, nestled in the valley, roughly 5 miles away.

"That's strange…" thought Mack as he checked his maps, "This village doesn't show up on any of my maps. Why, the nearest town is over 180 miles away." Mack saw that the village was right in his path and he also sensed something about it.

"Looks like I'd better start my search there, at the village. Maybe I can get some answers," thought Mack as he ran off.

**-6-**

Dr. Newman had never seen anything like this before. Suspended in a glass tube was Gardevoir, surely one of the most beautiful species of Pokémon he had ever seen. Dr. Newman eyed Gardevoir, wondering if Cecil was right. Cecil entered the room.

"Ah. I see the specimen is ready," said Cecil.

"Yes it is, sir. Gardevoir is asleep and my new psychic jammers will ensure that even if it does wake up, its psychic powers will be useless," explained Dr. Newman.

"Are you certain those new machines of yours will work?" asked Cecil.

"Of course!" laughed Dr. Newman, "Besides, I can't take all the credit. They helped me, of course." Dr. Newman pointed to his row of six Alakazams.

"Very well then. Let us begin," said Cecil as Dr. Newman powered up the machinery in the room. Dr. Newman frantically got all the machines ready, ready to create the strongest shadow Pokémon in existence.

"We'll be ready to start the infusion within half an hour," said Dr. Newman.


	2. Section 2

**-7-**

Twenty minutes and one thermos of coffee later, Mack had arrived at the outskirts of the small town. Mack was hesitant to enter the village for he knew his battle armor would draw too much attention, but something compelled him to enter the town. As he started down one of the streets, a sign caught his eye.

"Gardev? Is that the name of this place? Hard to believe that my lab has been just miles away from this place, but I've never set foot here, let alone even seen this village," thought Mack as he walked down the street. The town seemed eerily deserted. As Mack entered what he suspected was the center of the village, a large granite statue caught his eyes.

"What is this?" thought Mack as he closely examined the monument, "Why, it's a statue of a Gardevoir!"

"Freeze!" said a voice behind Mack. Mack slowly turned around and was face to face with the business end of a shotgun.

"What business do you have here?" asked the man angrily, "You're with them, aren't you?" Mack knew the shot-gun was useless against the S-100, but the last thing he wanted to do now was make a scene or start a fight.

"Jake! Relax. He's not with those bandits," said an old man as he walked up to Mack.

"If you insist, sir," said Jake as he lowered his weapon.

"Thank you," said Mack, "Am I correct that you're the village elder?"

"In a way, yes. I'm also the mayor of this small town. My name is Warren," explained Warren, "My family has been running this place for generations. Sure, we hold elections, but my family always wins, fair and square."

"I see," said Mack.

"Come with me to city hall," said Warren. With that, Mack followed the mayor. They sat down in a small office at the back of the building. Warren offered Mack some coffee, but Mack politely refused. There was no way he was going to remove his faceplate.

"What brings you to my town?" asked Warren calmly.

"To tell you the truth, I found this place while searching for…something," answered Mack, "I had no idea this place even existed."

"Most people aren't aware of this town," explained Warren, "The residents live here because of how isolated this place is. It's 180 miles to the nearest town and anyone who comes by way of car or truck has to navigate over 100 miles of treacherous roads. Of course…that didn't stop those fiends from stealing records from city hall."

"What do you mean?" asked Mack.

"A bunch of wackos came thundering through the village minutes after that freak earthquake occurred. They were wearing these strange white uniforms. They threatened us that if we didn't give them what they wanted, they would steal our Pokémon. We were outnumbered and were not about to let those devils make off with our friends," explained Warren.

"Have you notified the police?" asked Mack.

"No point. In order to make telephone calls that go outside Gardev, the signal has to travel over 200 miles of radio towers. The towers were installed instead of telephone cables since it would be easier to maintain a few towers rather than several thousand telephone poles and miles of cable," said Jake.

"Ah, ha," replied Mack.

"However, there have been a lot of thunderstorms lately in these parts. You go thirty miles in any direction and you'll run into powerful thunderstorms. These storms come here once a year and last for weeks. The lightning is causing too much interference; therefore, we can't just call the police," said Jake with a scowl.

"Even if we did reach them, it would be hours before even a single policeman would arrive by car. I doubt they would send helicopters. Any wise pilot knows to avoid these mountains like a plague whenever the thunderstorms arrive. As for the bandits, they ran in the direction of Mt. Terror. Perhaps you could help us?" asked Warren. Mack stood up.

"Perhaps, but I must mention that I'm not some honor-seeking warrior or hero. I'm usually a mercenary, a bounty hunter. If you want my services, I will have to be compensated," declared Mack.

"Of all the nerve!" shouted Jake as he stood up.

"Quiet, Jake," said Warren as Jake sat back down and continued to glare at Mack. Mack stood still and heard Jake whispering to Warren.

"We don't have the money to hire this warrior! Besides, he's an outsider! We can't trust him!" whispered Jake angrily into Warren's left ear. Mack didn't think he was being unreasonable. After all, Mack's previous Pokémon journey had nearly used up all his money. Not to mention the expenses of getting the materials and machinery needed to repair the _Firefox_. Mack was listening to Warren and Jake, argue quietly, until something hit him. Mack suddenly sensed pain and fear like nothing he had experienced in centuries. Whatever was going on, it was coming from near Mt. Terror. This didn't bode well. Mack knew he had no time to fight for payment.

"We need his help!" whispered Warren angrily at Jake.

"No way! We can't trust this outsider!" said Jake. Warren noticed that something was bothering the iron-clad mercenary.

"Is something troubling you?" asked Warren. Jake fell silent.

"I'll do it," said Mack.

"You'll what?!" shouted Jake with astonishment.

"I'm heading towards where those bandits came from anyway. I'll be more than happy to deal with them and recover those lost records," said Mack.

"Oh!" snapped Jake, "And how much will we have to pay you?"

"At this point, nothing," said Mack. Warren whispered something to Jake.

"You must be joking. Should we really tell him that?" whispered Jake. Warren nodded.

"What is your name?" asked Warren.

"My name is Dr. Foxx," said Mack.

"Well then, Dr. Foxx, there is something I need to tell you," said Warren as Jake eyed him cautiously, "There is a Gardevoir that has gone missing. I last saw it heading towards Mt. Terror just moments after the quake struck."

"That doesn't make much sense," thought Mack, "If the quake really did strike here, what stopped this village from getting torn apart?"

"At any rate, I don't want to imagine what would happen if it was captured by those fiends. If you find it, try and bring it back here unharmed," said Warren.

"Understood," said Mack as he got up and headed for the door, "I'll be back with Gardevoir and those records." Mack shut the door, leaving Jake and Warren alone.

"I've never heard of this character before. Why do you trust him?" asked a shocked Jake.

"There's more to that warrior than meets the eye," said Warren as he adjusted his glasses, "Besides, I believe his intensions are honorable."

**-8-**

Just minutes ago, Dr. Newman and Cecil were ready to infuse the Gardevoir with pure darkness, making it an unfeeling fighting machine.

"All systems are at 100," reported Dr. Newman, "Conditions could hardly be more ideal."

"Excellent," said Cecil as he stared at Gardevoir.

"We are ready to begin at your command," said Dr. Newman.

"We?" asked a bewildered Cecil as he turned around. Dr. Newman pointed at his group of Alakazams.

"I see," said Cecil as he turned his gaze and focus back on Gardevoir, "Begin." With that, Dr. Newman pulled a lever and slowly, a black aura surrounded Gardevoir.

"How long will this take?" asked Cecil impatiently.

"Only a matter of minutes," said Dr. Newman as one of the warning lights on the control panel in front of him lit up, "What's this? The dark energy has no effect on Gardevoir."

"Then turn up the power level," said Cecil.

"Yes, sir," said Dr. Newman as he pulled the level further, "Increasing power to 25." The black aura around Gardevoir got thicker and blacker. "Power at 25 and holding, but there is still no effect."

"Then what are you waiting for? Increase the power level to 75!" ordered Cecil.

"75? We've never had to go that high on the scale. It could be dangerous," warned Dr. Newman.

"You have your orders. Do it," commanded Cecil.

"Yes, sir," said Dr. Newman as he quickly pulled the level several notches. The dark aura around Gardevoir was filling the glass tube. Gardevoir seemed to be writhing in pain. "All this and still it refuses to give in, even in its sleep. No Pokémon has ever resisted the shadow chamber at this power level. Fascinating."

"Grrr!" growled Cecil, "Let me guess: No effect. Crank up the power to 85! NOW!"

"That's too dangerous! That could kill her!" protested Dr. Newman.

"Do it or you'll be dealt with quite harshly," growled Cecil. Dr. Newman was almost convinced that this experiment should cease at once. He quickly glanced at one of his Alakazams. It nodded its head in agreement. Cecil flipped open a glass panel on the control console and pressed the kill-switch, instantly shutting down the machinery.

"What are you doing?!" thundered Cecil as he turned around to face the scientist. Dr. Newman sternly glared at Cecil.

"I cannot continue this. If I had turned the power up further or left the machinery on much longer, the dark power would have killed her!" shouted Dr. Newman, "Isn't it obvious?! We cannot turn this Gardevoir into a shadow Pokémon! Plain and simple!" Cecil turned towards the glass tube. He glared at Gardevoir, who was slumped at the back of the tube.

"Very well. Take it to the holding room and lock it up," ordered Cecil.

"Pardon? Shouldn't you return it to its Pokéball? It needs to rest," said Dr. Newman with concern.

"Have it shackled to the wall and have some of those psychic jammers of yours placed outside the room so it can't escape. If I can't have complete control over it as a shadow Pokémon, then I will just have to teach it to fear me. That way, it will think twice about disobeying my orders. You know what will happen if you don't follow my commands to the letter," said Cecil with hatred.

"I will obey. I'll have it transferred at once," said Dr. Newman as Cecil left the room. Dr. Newman had heard rumors that Cecil was cruel, but the rumors were nothing compared to what he had just heard.

**-9-**

Mack was racing towards Mt. Terror. The cave entrance was less than a mile away, but Mack still could not figure out where the feelings of pain and fear had come from. Was it another human or a Pokémon? As Mack drew closer to the cave, he once again sensed fear and sadness, but much weaker this time. Mack stopped running and turned on his radio.

"Central, I want William teleported to me at once in his Pokéball," said Mack.

"At once, doctor, but why?" asked Central.

"I think this is Cipher we're dealing with. If I'm challenged to a Pokémon battle I will not refuse," said Mack.

"Teleporting now," said Central. Mack heard the Pokéball teleport into a holding box on his back.

"Good. I'll report back to you later," said Mack as he switched off the radio and resumed the chase.

**-10-**

Gardevoir awoke in a dark room. She tried to move, but soon noticed that she was chained to the wall. She closed her eyes, focusing, trying to call on her power, but nothing happened. Gardevoir almost broke down and cried, but then she sensed something, something that gave her hope. Someone was coming for her. Some sort of valiant warrior was coming and he was not about to let anything stand in his way.


	3. Section 3

**-11-**

Mack finally arrived at the cave entrance.

"Time to clean house," thought Mack as he pressed some switches on the control panel on his left gauntlet, "But first I need to check this place out more carefully." Mack suspected that there were people down there somewhere and wasn't about ready to be seen. After he pressed the last button, the jamming array activated. Mack had spent almost as much time on the jamming array as the S-100 armor itself. Currently, this device made Mack and his armor invisible to radar, infra-red scanners, ultra-violet scanners and even the naked eye. This wondrous machine also silenced his every move. The jamming array also defeated X-ray scanners, but Mack suspected that no one had developed one yet. The only X-ray scanner on this world was the one built into the spectrum analysis visor on his armor. The only way anyone could possibly detect him now was for the person to walk right into him. The only flaw is that the jamming array required almost all the power his armor's generators could produce, so firing any of his weapons would be impossible while cloaked. The armor suit itself also weighted over 800 pounds and required a sensitive hydraulics system to allow nimble, precise movement. So Mack could fire his weapons while cloaked, but the noise would give him away and the hydraulics would instantly shut down. The weight of the armor was too much for Mack to bear for long. Mack walked to the edge of the cave entrance. To his surprise, there was a 300 foot drop straight down into the cavern. Someone had also taken the time to install stairs and platforms on the walls for easy access to the surface. Mack jumped down the shaft, using his armor's jet boots to control his fall. He flew silently towards the bottom of the shaft. To Mack's horror, a Cipher trooper of some sort was right where he was going to land! Mack quickly adjusted his fall and landed inches from the trooper. Mack landed silently, but the ground still shook when his feet touched it. The trooper turned around, trying to figure out where the brief shaking had come from. Dismissing it as nothing important, he left the area. Mack breathed a sign of relief. That landing had been a lot harder than he expected. After he pulled himself together, he stood back up and started to explore. This underground facility was larger than Mack imagined. It would take hours to explore this place on foot.

"May as well try a new feature," thought Mack as he switched his X-ray scanner for Map Mode. In this mode, the x-ray scanner could see up to one thousand feet through solid rock and then generate a 3D map on Mack's heads-up-display on the visor. After just a few moments, something got his attention. Just 800 feet away was a gargantuan machine of some sort. He ran down the halls and corridors with his map to guide him. After 15 minutes of running and dodging guards, he entered a large room. The machine was right in the center of the room, about as big as the Pokémon Center in Viridian City and was shaped like a cylinder. It was covered with panels that projected a strange, pulsing yellow light. Whatever this machine was, Mack was not going to allow Cipher to use it any longer. This was no time to be looking for lost records. He looked up towards the ceiling in the room. There were four guards in the area. Not a problem. Mack jumped to some higher platforms and got right behind two of the guards.

"Here we go," said Mack, "Stun Mode." With his command, four small cannons popped out of his gauntlets: one on the top and bottom of each wrist. He pointed two of the cannons at each guard. Mack clenched his fists and two bright bolts of orange light hit the guards in their backs. They dropped to the floor unconscious. The jamming array shut itself off instantly.

"What was that?!" shouted another guard.

"Captain?!" shouted another as they ran towards their fallen comrades. They looked down the corridor and saw what looked like a metal fox. Mack clenched his fists again and the guards were hit with orange energy bolts and then collapsed. Mack then walked back into the large room and pulled some timer mines out of a compartment in his armor. These mines were as big as a deck of cards, but had enough explosive force that they could be used to knock down buildings or bridges with ease. He placed them all over the room and the machine. He then placed one mine near the fallen guards.

"Twenty minutes should be enough," thought Mack as he armed the mines via his gauntlet control panel, "These guards will wake up in a minute or less and see this time bomb right in front of them. If they have any sense, they'll evacuate this place at once. I want to take these cretins alive!" Mack started running when he saw one of the guards waking up. The guard looked down at his feet and saw what looked like a small box. A small LED display said "19:20."

"Nineteen minutes and twenty seconds?" asked the groggy guard to himself, "WHAT?! A time-bomb?!" He looked around the room and soon discovered that the walls and the machine in the center of the room were covered with mines!

"Wake up, Captain!" shouted the guard frantically as he shook his leader.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Look!" shouted the guard as he pointed to the mines that covered the area.

"Impossible!" shouted the Captain as he ran down one of the hallways and pulled an alarm. Cecil was caught off guard and immediately radioed the captain of the guard.

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Cecil over the radio.

"Sir! Someone broke into the base undetected and planted time bombs all over Sector-13!" shouted the captain frantically.

"You mean…?" asked Cecil with disbelief.

"Yes, sir! The machine has been mined! We have to evacuate this facility!" said the captain as he tried to calm down.

"Just disable the little pieces of junk," said Cecil without concern.

"We can't possibly disable all of them! There must be 60, no 80 of these mines in here!" shouted the captain. Cecil could not believe what he was hearing.

"Fine! I order this facility to be evacuated at once! Have all personnel head to the launch bay and board the helicopters at once. Launch them as soon as they are full. We have to get everyone as far away from here as possible!" ordered Cecil. Just as Cecil was going to turn around and say something to Dr. Newman, he spotted something on one of the video monitors in the room. Some sort of assassin or bounty hunter dressed as a metal fox was running down the halls. "So…" said Cecil to himself as he seethed with anger, "This is who to blame for this outrage." Cecil faced Dr. Newman.

"What is it, sir?" asked Dr. Newman.

"You will lead the evacuation. I'm going to deal with this intruder myself. Have our helicopter ready. After that machine goes up, it will be only a matter of minutes until this whole facility goes up in smoke," said Cecil as he grabbed a strange collar from a glass case.

"Very well, but what do you need that restrainer for?" asked Dr. Newman.

"None of your business. Now go!" shouted Cecil as Dr. Newman called his Alakazams back to their Pokéballs. Meanwhile, Cecil went running down the hall. "That fool is heading right for the training room. I'll head him off there." Cecil quickly threw open a door. Gardevoir jumped and backed into a corner of the room.

"You're coming with me," snarled Cecil as he lunged forward and put the collar over Gardevoir's neck, "This will make sure you don't disobey me. It will let me disable your powers if I have to." Gardevoir backed further into the corner. Cecil laughed.

"Good. I can see that you know better than to toy with me!" snapped Cecil, "Time to prove yourself!" With that, Cecil called Gardevoir back to the Master Ball and then he ran off to confront the saboteur. Mack was sure he was getting close to the exit. His map said that the fastest way back to the entry shaft was through a large, dome-shaped room. Mack entered the room and after looking back and forth discovered that this was some sort of underground coliseum or training field. Just as he was at the other end of the field, he heard a voice.

"Come back here, you coward!" shouted a man. Mack stopped in his tracks and turned to face him. "Surely you would not refuse a battle with me. I am Cecil, administrator of this facility. I challenge you to a Pokémon battle. Of course, you could just run away like a dishonorable piece of scum!"

"As you wish," said Mack. He sensed something about Cecil. Whatever it was, he didn't like the looks of this man at all.

"Let us begin!" shouted Cecil, "Onyx! Go!" commanded Cecil as he let a Pokéball fly into the center of the arena. The giant rock snake towered over Mack.

"I only have one Pokémon," said Mack.

"That's just fine with me!" laughed Cecil, "I'll be happy to crush you at a one-on-one fight!" Mack threw his Pokéball into the arena.

"William! Get ready!" shouted Mack as the Pokéball hit the floor and opened with a flash, revealing his Pikachu.

"Is that the best you can do?" said Cecil with cruel laughter, "You don't have a chance against my Onyx. Onyx! Focus!" At Cecil's command, the Onyx sat still, building its energy.

"William! Static Electric!" commanded Mack as he pointed at Cecil's Onyx. William blazed with electricity and then fired several green bolts of lightning into Onyx. Onyx didn't even flinch.

"You must be joking," said Cecil with a grin, "Onyx, Takedown!" At Cecil's command, Onyx charged at William.

"William! Thunderball!" ordered Mack. William again blazed with lightning, but this time, tried to focus it in his hands.

"What are you doing?" asked Cecil with bewilderment. Onyx went airborne, ready to crush the miniscule Pikachu beneath its massive boulders. William stared at the incoming behemoth and grinned. With a flick of his wrists, William sent a small ball of lightning at Onyx. The lighting ball exploded on contact, enveloping the Onyx in raw electricity. Onyx howled in pain and dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"What on earth was that?!" thundered Cecil.

"Simple. Static Electric makes the target's weakness electricity. After that, a shot of Thunderball, one of the most powerful electric-type attacks, slams into the target mercilessly. Very few Pokémon can learn these attacks," explained Mack, "This Pikachu, William, is one of them."

"You're as good a trainer as you are a saboteur," remarked Cecil as he called his Onyx back to its Pokéball, "But let's see how you handle this one." Cecil reached for a strange Pokéball on his belt and Mack paused.

"That's a Master Ball!" thought Mack with shock, "What could he possibly have in it and why do I have this foreboding feeling about his next Pokémon?"

"Time to prove yourself!" shouted Cecil as he threw the Master Ball into the ring. It opened with a flash and revealed Gardevoir.

"Oh, no! This must be the Gardevoir that Warren needed me to save!" thought Mack with shock. The Gardevoir seemed sad and fearful.

"So this is why I kept sensing those feelings. It must have been trying to lure me here to save it," thought Mack. He considered using the Capture Claw to save Gardevoir, but that move would have haunted Mack's conscience for the rest of his life. "I can't stoop that low and steal a Pokémon, no matter what." Never had he been so reluctant to battle before.

"What's the matter? Has the warrior lost his touch?" said Cecil with cruel laughter. He pulled out a remote control of some sort. When he pressed the button, the lights on the Gardevoir's collar turned from red to blue. "Gardevoir, Use Psychic on that little rat! Shut it down!" With that, Gardevoir reluctantly started focusing her power.

"William! Thunderbolt!" shouted Mack as he turned away.

"PIKA-CHUUU!!!" yelled William as a bolt of lightning struck down Gardevoir.

"I can't watch…" said Mack, hiding his face while Gardevoir screamed. Mack slowly turned back and removed his hands from his faceplate. Gardevoir was on the ground, struggling to get up. William sat down on the floor, panting from exhaustion.

"What?! That can't be!" exclaimed Cecil with rage.

"What happened?" thought Mack, "That Thunderbolt was all William had left. That should not have done the trick…unless, unless Gardevoir was already weakened! That explains the horrid pain I sensed! What on earth have these fiends done to it?!"

"Grrr! Worthless!" shouted Cecil as he stomped on the floor. Cecil then pressed a switch on the remote control. The lights on Gardevoir's collar turned red. Mack studied the collar closely.

"That looks like some sort of restraining device. Hold on, why do I have the feeling I've forgotten something important?" thought Mack.

"GAH!!! The timer-mines!!" shouted Mack.

"WHAT?!" yelled Cecil. Deep in the facility, the mines detonated all at once, blowing the mysterious machine to bits and shattering the rock walls. The shockwave knocked the combatants to their feet.

"I don't have time for this," growled Cecil as he got to his feet and ran for an elevator at the other end of the field.

"Where do you think you're going?" said Mack as he started running after Cecil. Suddenly, an explosion blew through the floor under Mack's feet, sending him flying. There wasn't enough time to fire up the jet boots and land safely. Mack landed hard on his stomach and the impact knocked the air out of him. As Mack struggled to breath, some rocks from the roof came down, smashing into the back of the S-100. Mack howled in pain as one warning message after another appeared on his HUD.

"No! The power generators were damaged!" thought Mack with fear as he struggled to get out from under the boulders. They seemed too heavy for the hydraulics to handle as his armor started to lose power.

"I have no choice now…" muttered Mack as he tried to relax and focus. Cecil stopped in his tracks, turned around and saw a strange aura enshrouding the boulders. The boulders slowly lifted into the air and were then thrown to the opposite end of the field.

"What kind of assassin is this? He can't possibly be human!" thought Cecil as he started back for the elevator. Much to his surprise, Gardevoir was there, leaning on the door. Mack struggled to get to his feet, but without the hydraulics working, the armor was unwieldy, especially since he still couldn't catch his breath. That was the one real weakness of the S-100: virtually indestructible armor, but the internal systems were always much more fragile and could be damaged or destroyed by direct, hard hits. Cecil glared at Gardevoir.

"So you want to come with me, eh? Because I'm your master?" asked Cecil with a harsh tone. Gardevoir nodded as Mack started to push up from the ground. Cecil growled.

"Guess what?" said Cecil as he seethed with hatred and clenched his right fist, "I don't want to be your master anymore, you worthless beast!" Mack couldn't believe what he was seeing as he saw Cecil strike Gardevoir into the floor. Mack's eyes glowed red through his visor.

"And you call yourself a Pokémon trainer?!" shouted Mack as loud as he could. Cecil boarded the elevator.

"What else do you do with garbage besides toss it out?" said Cecil calmly as the elevator started on its way up.

"Come back here!" yelled Mack with rage as he struggled to get to his feet with his eyes glowing even brighter. Gardevoir looked up and saw the elevator disappear into the blackness up above. Suddenly, a panel up above exploded and a live wire dropped from the ceiling onto Gardevoir. Gardevoir shrieked in pain.

"What?! NOO!!!" thundered Mack as he summoned up all his strength and jumped forward with all his might. He grabbed the wire with his left gauntlet and quickly plucked it off Gardevoir as raw power surged over his armor. Mack threw the wire aside and tried to catch his breath.

"What on earth was that? That must have been over 500,000 volts! If it wasn't for my armor, I would have been fried! What would they need that kind of power for?!" said Mack. His gaze turned to William who was hiding under a nearby bench from fright. Mack pounded on the control panel, trying to get anything to work. The radio crackled to life.

"Doctor? This is Central. What is happening over there?" asked Central with concern.

"I'll explain later! Teleport William out of here!" ordered Mack.

"Understood," said Central as William vanished with a flash of light. Mack rushed over to Gardevoir's side and managed to take off the collar. Gardevoir was still breathing.

"Thank heavens," said Mack with relief, "She's alive…barely. Central! Get us out of here!"

"Compliance," said Central, "Warning! Your reserve power-cells have been damaged! There is just enough power to bring you back."

"What do you mean?" demanded Mack.

"You're the one wearing the armor, so it would take less power to focus the energy to send you back here," explained Central, "There isn't even enough power to remove your armor and send it here. You will have to come with it." Mack had to choose between his own safety and that of Gardevoir. For Mack, that was no choice.

"Fine! We'll escape on foot!" declared Mack as he took Gardevoir up in his arms and started running. Without a map, the going was more difficult than expected. Nevertheless, he managed to retrace his steps. As he was running, Gardevoir awoke and saw the metal face of her rescuer.

"Don't worry! I'll get you some help! Just hold on," said Mack softly as he continued to run. Mack wished he was as optimistic as he sounded. He could teleport them both out of there, but that would drain enough of his energy to kill him. There was no way he was going to force Gardevoir to send them to safety, not in her current condition. Gardevoir soon fell back asleep. All was going well. Mack could see the shaft just yards ahead. Then, without warning, another rogue explosion sent Mack off his feet and into the floor. He struggled to get to his feet and soon discovered, to his horror, that he was almost completely buried under a rockslide. Only his helmet and arms weren't under the debris. He looked up and saw that Gardevoir had been thrown from his arms. Mack tried to get out from under the rocks with all his strength, but his armor's power had been drained and he was starting to grow weak. Mack let his arms drop to the floor.

"So this is it," thought Mack, "All my years of traveling, trying to get home…was it all in vain?" Mack shook his head. "What am I talking about? I can't give up!" Mack faced the ground, dug his gauntlets into the ground and tried to pull himself out from under the rubble. Mack heard some soft footsteps and he stopped what he was doing. Mack looked up and saw Gardevoir on her knees in front of him.

"You're okay?" said Mack with relief, "Good! Now get out of here! Escape before it's too late!" Gardevoir just stared at Mack. She seemed to be worried about him.

"I'll be fine! Just go!" said Mack as he continued to claw into the ground. Gardevoir didn't move.

"Who am I kidding? When this place goes up my armor would survive, but I'll probably be torn to shreds from the shockwaves. Either that, or I'll die from energy loss," thought Mack as Gardevoir grabbed his right hand. She closed her eyes and a blue aura surrounded her and Mack.

"What is she doing? Why, she's trying to teleport us out of here!" thought Mack as his gauntlet control panel started sparking. Mack glanced at the panel, "What in the world? The teleportation systems are going haywire!" Mack passed out as he and Gardevoir vanished in a blue flash of light.

Meanwhile, Cecil was sitting in his chair onboard his helicopter across from Dr. Newman. Cecil watched as one side of Mt. Terror erupted into a giant cloud of black smoke. Cecil had no idea on how he would explain this disaster to his boss: of all the resources that had been lost just to capture a single Gardevoir. Cecil's only relief was that Gardevoir had probably perished inside the facility. If he couldn't have it, no one would.

The blast caught the attention of the entire town of Gardev. The residents looked on with disbelief as Mt. Terror vanished behind a puff of smoke.

"What in blazes was that?!" shouted Jake.

"I think Dr. Foxx found more than he expected," said Warren, "I hope he and Aura are okay."

One of the town residents was a young girl named Sakura. The explosion from Mt. Terror had gotten her attention, but soon afterward, a faint white flash of light appeared in the forests outside the village.


	4. Section 4

**-12-**

"What on earth just happened? Where am I?" thought Mack as he finally awoke. Though his vision was blurred, he could tell that he was now in the middle of a dense forest. Other than that, he couldn't tell where exactly he was. His senses seemed to be scrambled at the moment. He tried to get up, but his body refused to move.

"Looks like I'm safe," thought Mack as he sighed with relief, "K-1 should be by to pick me up soon." Mack started to lose consciousness again.

"I've survived, but where…where's…Gardevoir…?" thought Mack as he blacked out.

**-13-**

Sakura was running down the pathways in the forest with her mother right behind her.

"Mommy! I swear I saw something over here!" said Sakura as she continued running.

"Okay, just be careful!" said Sakura's mother, Makoto, as she followed her daughter. Sakura suddenly stopped in the middle of the pathway.

"Did you find that light?" asked Makoto as she came alongside Sakura. To her shock, Makoto saw Gardevoir on the ground, unconscious.

"I think she's hurt!" said Sakura with fear.

"You stay here," said Makoto, "I'll be back with Warren. He'll know what to do!" Makoto ran back to the town while Sakura kept vigilance over Gardevoir.

**-14-**

K-1 was absolutely stunned as he watched Mt. Terror vanish behind thick, black smoke from Central's viewing screens.

"Try again!" ordered K-1.

"Impossible," declared Central, "I cannot acquire a lock on Mack's location. Either the S-100 was destroyed or every last ounce of energy was drained from the power cells."

"Blast it all!" grumbled K-1. William walked beside K-1 and squeaked mournfully. K-1 opened the doors on his chest, extended an arm and then softly stroked the frightened Pikachu. "You're worried too, aren't you, little guy?" K-1 worried that if the S-100 wasn't located soon, Mack might die from energy loss or worse still, he might even be captured in his weakened state.

"I must point out that I did detect the energy signature of a teleportation just moments before the explosion," said Central.

"What do you make of it?" asked K-1 as William's ears perked up.

"I can't be sure. The signature seemed rather…distorted. I suspect this is simply because my sensor range is quite weak. Personally, I believe that Mack is alive and well. I think we'll see him soon, it just might be a few days or even a week," said Central.

"You sure are optimistic," said K-1, "At any rate, continue to search for Mack and the S-100."

**-15-**

Just hours after the destruction of Cipher's facility on Mt. Terror, Cipher administrators deemed that the facility was safe enough to conduct a short reconnaissance on. Thus, some of Cipher's lowest agents were sent in to investigate. This time, it was the Hexagon Brothers. This group of sextuplets had all joined up with Cipher just weeks before and they certainly did not enjoy getting stuck with the dirty jobs.

"I still can't believe they sent us here of all places," grumbled Blusix.

"Relax, Blusix, we don't have to stay here very long," said Redsix. The brothers had entered the ruined facility though the old service shaft. Oddly enough, the stairways and platforms were still intact. A shiny object in one of the hallways caught the attention of Greesix.

"I think I see something down there!" said Greesix as he and his brothers ran down the hall. At the end of the tunnel, they found what looked like metal just sticking out from under a pile of boulders.

"What do you suppose this is?" asked Blusix.

"Maybe it's a broken machine of some sort," said Redsix as he glanced at Greesix, "I'll bet you could yank it out of there."

"Me? Sure!" said Greesix as he grabbed the object and with one yank pulled it out from under the rocks. To his shock, he realized that he had just pulled a helmet out from under the debris. Greesix shrieked, fearing that he had just beheaded someone. His brothers laughed.

"Relax!" laughed Redsix, "It's just a helmet."

"Looks like more than a helmet," said Blusix as he and his brothers removed some of the rocks to reveal a suit of some sort of armor. Redsix closely eyed the armor and soon discovered that this chunk of metal was highly advanced.

"What is this thing made of?" asked Greesix as he struggled to lift the armor off the ground.

"I would like to know what happened to the pilot!" said Blusix.

"That's not important!" said Redsix with a grin, "All that matters is that we have something very valuable here. I bet if we report this find to our officers, we'll get a big promotion out of it!"

"Dr. Newman would have a field day with this thing. I'll bet he would be able to get it to work, too!" said Greesix with excitement.

"I don't know what this thing does, but it would be the perfect replacement for these uniforms!" laughed Blusix. Redsix pulled out a radio and told the support team that they had found something considerable. The support team would arrive in a few minutes to collect the armor.

**-16-**

Mack awoke with his vision blurred. He could tell that he was in a room and in a bed. A woman and what appeared to be her daughter were sitting in a chair near the bed.

"Ah! You've finally woken up. You've been asleep for almost a week," said the woman with a sigh of relief, "Are you feeling better?"

"No worse than usual," replied Mack as he slowly sat up. Mack wasn't quite sure, but his voice had sounded rather strange. Mack rubbed his eyes, but this felt unusual too.

"Maybe my senses are scrambled again…" thought Mack "Wouldn't surprise me if they were. I was almost killed."

"Well," said the woman as she held her daughter in her arms, "We'll just leave you to rest for now." After they left the room, Mack staggered to his feet. To his surprise, the room he was in was spacious and quite fancy.

"Looks like I've been copping some 'Z's in a four-star hotel," said Mack to himself with a bit of laughter, "I wasn't expecting to be paid like this. I must have completed my mission. I'll have to go see Warren when I get the chance." Mack saw a bathroom in the left corner of the room. He walked towards the bathroom.

"May as well see what's left of me," he thought. As he entered the room, he found a large mirror over the sink, but in the mirror, he did not find his own face. He jumped back out of the bathroom. He rubbed his eyes again, trying to get them back into focus.

"Okay…" he thought, "My senses are either scrambled or I'm having a nightmare of some sort." He slowly walked back into the bathroom and stared into the mirror. Mack came to a conclusion: his senses were working just fine and he was definitely not dreaming. In the mirror, he saw not his face, but the figure of Gardevoir. He jumped back with a shriek and set his back against a wall outside the bathroom.

"Alright, doctor, calm down! You've been in situations like this before," thought Mack. He slowly took another look in the mirror. "Okay, maybe not QUITE like this, but still, you've got to keep your cool and figure out what happened." Mack thought back and remembered being pinned under some rocks in the S-100 when a Gardevoir grabbed his hand and then teleported both of them away. Mack also remembered that his gauntlet control panel was sparking like crazy as a message on his visor warned him that the teleporter was malfunctioning. Mack's mind was blank after that, until when he awoke. Mack had always known that using a damaged teleporter was dangerous and always had unexpected results, but still, this was a new one.

"So I've been fused with a Pokémon," thought Mack, "I never expected this. That Gardevoir was a psychic type anyway; surely she knew that this would happen! Perhaps this is fate?" Mack suddenly heard some people talking outside the door to the bedroom. Mack walked over quietly and pressed his head against the door. He could clearly hear Warren, Jake and some other people talking.

"What do you think happened?" asked Jake.

"I think Dr. Foxx was successful in dealing with those bandits. I even suspect that he rescued Aura from them," said Warren.

"Aura? Is that the name of the Gardevoir I got fused with?" thought Mack.

"I still can't believe that our guardian failed," said a woman's voice.

"That's not the case!" said Warren with impatience, "I suspect that there is more going on here than we realize."

"No kidding…" thought Mack.

"Ever since this village was established over one thousand years ago, a Gardevoir has been watching over us," explained Warren, "We may not have ever had earthquakes before, but we've had more than our fair share of disasters: avalanches in the winter, floods in the spring and then there is the occasional forest fire that gets sparked to life by those thunderstorms. Each time, the village guardian has preserved us and our homes."

"I know the story," said Jake, "And your family has been providing the Gardevoirs with food and shelter for just as long."

"Yes," said Warren with a chuckle, "That's probably why a member of my family has been running Gardev since it was founded."

"That explains a few things," thought Mack.

"Why, one of my ancestors even had that statue erected in the town square roughly 300 years ago to honor the Gardevoirs who have protected our village, but most importantly, it honors the Gardevoirs who have died protecting this place," explained Warren, "I'm glad we have not had to add Aura's name to the memorial."

"I've heard tales about Gardevoirs giving their lives for their trainer," thought Mack, "So, not only have I fused with a Gardevoir, but I've fused with the guardian of this village. This problem just keeps getting bigger."

"Why, I think Aura did a superb job holding this village together during the quake," said Warren.

"But what about those bandits? They slipped right in and took whatever they wanted," said Jake.

"We've never had an earthquake before. I'll bet that Aura sensed something strange and then ran off to find out what had happened," said Warren.

"And what of that warrior? He still hasn't returned," said Jake, "Oh, well. At least he didn't come back and demand payment. I hope he's alright, but I also hope that he's long gone by now."

"You still don't trust him, do you?" asked Warren.

"Yes! I still don't trust him! That outsider! Heh! I hope he never comes back!" said Jake with anger.

"'Never comes back?'" muttered Mack, "I have yet to leave."

"Show some respect," said Warren in an angry tone of voice, "He may have died up there on Mt. Terror trying to save Aura. You had better hope that Dr. Foxx returns, because the last thing I want to do is place another memorial in the town square!"

"I've heard enough," thought Mack as he walked away from the door. He soon noticed an object on a desk in the room. He walked closer and soon discovered that this object was his custom-made ID card. This card would allow him easy access to his lab and any equipment he might need. Mack grabbed the card and then heard a knock on the door.

"Aura?" asked Warren "Is it okay for me to come in?"

"Yes, please come in," said Mack. This new voice was going to take some getting used to. Warren opened the door and walked into the room.

"I see you've awakened," said Warren as he eyed the card in Aura's hands, "I also see you've found Dr. Foxx's ID card. Apparently, Sakura found it near you."

"I see," answered Mack as Warren sat down in a nearby chair.

"I don't suppose you know what happened to him. I sent him to find you and to deal with those bandits. Do you know where he went?" asked Warren. Mack was not going to bother explaining what had happened on Mt. Terror.

"He disappeared. I have no idea where he went," said Mack.

"He must have gone through quite a lot to save you. Well, I hope he's alright," said Warren.

"I'm quite alright, sort of," thought Mack as he set the ID card back on the desk, "And rescuing Aura didn't quite turn out how I had planned."

"At any rate, please get some rest," said Warren as he left the room. Mack ran back to the bathroom and gazed into the mirror.

"Despite that teleportation accident, Aura probably saved our lives," thought Mack, "Most perplexing. Not only will I need to deal with Cipher, but I'll have to find a way to safely split Aura and I apart." Mack walked out of the bathroom and sat on the bed. He then noticed a coffee mug on the desk.

"Okay. For the time being, I'm a psychic Pokémon. It should be a piece of cake to use telekinesis, and other powers now," thought Mack as he focused and tried to lift the mug off the desk. However, the mug didn't budge. Mack continued to try, but he couldn't even get the mug to slide an inch on the desk. Mack growled and he tried to fire a beam of explosive light from his hands at the stubborn coffee mug. Mack was disappointed, yet relieved that he had not blown a hole in the wall.

"This isn't good…" thought Mack, "I can't use any of my powers or even Aura's!" Mack sat still, trying to regain his composure.

"If Cipher returns to this village I'll be the only thing standing in their way, but how am I supposed to fight back without weapons or my abilities?" thought Mack, "Speaking of weapons, what ever happened to the S-100?" Mack looked out a window in the room and at the peak of Mt. Terror.

"It's probably still buried in that shaft," thought Mack as he jumped to his feet. Mack grabbed a thin cloth band from a drawer in the desk and clipped his card to it. Mack then ran out of the bedroom and down the hallway. Just as he was reaching for the front door knob, Warren was walking out from behind a corner in the hallway.

"Huh? Where are you going?" asked Warren with concern, "You should be resting now."

"There's something I need to check," answered Mack as he opened the door.

"Okay, just be careful out there," said Warren as he saw Aura close the door. Mack was now walking down Main Street and his new reflection in the windows of nearby houses was starting to get on his nerves.

"I need something…" thought Mack, "Something that's more my style." Mack walked further down the street and found a general store with an ATM out in front.

"Maybe they'll have something I can use," thought Mack as he stood in front of the ATM and slid his card into the machine. Just as the ATM gave him some cash, Mack turned around and saw that a few people were staring at him.

"Haven't these people ever seen a Pokémon doing their banking before?" thought Mack, "What am I thinking about? I'VE yet to see a Pokémon do banking either!" Mack walked into the store, while the villagers tried to make some sense of what they had just seen.

"Did you see that?" asked one of them.

"Yes, but what would Aura need money for?" asked another. As Mack entered the store, the shopkeeper greeted him.

"Welcome, Aura!" said the man with a grin, "What brings you here?" Mack instantly saw a name in his mind.

"I'm just looking for something, Paul," answered Mack.

"Go ahead! I have just about anything you'll need!" said Paul as Mack started wandering down the isles.

"All I need is a pair of good sunglasses…" though Mack as he soon caught a glimpse of a pair of Gargoyle sunglasses. "This guy really does have everything." Mack grabbed the shades and went over to the counter.

"How much for these?" asked Mack as he counted his wad of bills.

"On the house!" said Paul.

"What? Don't you have a family to provide for?" asked Mack.

"Please! Consider those sunglasses as a gift. Don't forget, you're the one who saved my family and shop from that freak earthquake," explained Paul, "Besides, those things have been on the shelf for years."

"Okay," said Mack as he put on the shades, "Thank you." Mack started walking for the front door.

"Excuse me, Aura," said Paul.

"Yes?" answered Mack.

"May I suggest you try a different style? I don't think those suit you," said Paul.

"How so?" asked Mack.

"They make you look cold and unfeeling," said Paul with a bit of embarrassment, "But who am I to argue with a customer? Have a nice day." Mack started walking out the door.

"It's nice that Aura has returned, but something about her has…changed," thought Paul. Mack clearly heard what Paul was thinking about.

"You have no idea…" grumbled Mack, "But at least I have telepathy at my disposal." As Mack was walking towards the edge of town, he noticed that other people were staring at him.

"What's with the sunglasses?" asked a villager.

"Beats me," said another.

"Looks like I found another good way to draw too much attention to myself…" sighed Mack as he started running through the forest towards Mt. Terror.


	5. Section 5

**-17-**

Though a week had passed since the disaster on Mt. Terror, Cecil was still feeling the backlash. The top administrators were not only displeased with the massive loss of resources, but also that this was all the result of trying to capture only a single Pokémon.

"Confound it all," grumbled Cecil, "My plan was perfect: draw that Gardevoir into my trap and then create the most powerful shadow Pokémon in existence."

"No one could have predicted this," said Dr. Newman, trying to reassure Cecil, "Who would have thought that Gardevoir would completely resist the shadow process?"

"It doesn't matter now…" said Cecil, "Not only was an entire base destroyed, but now we've lost the seismic generator too."

"Don't forget who built the device," said Dr. Newman with a scowl, "I still can't believe you used my creation in an attempt to wipe an entire village off the face of the earth!"

"Easy, Dr. Newman, I knew that Gardevoir would manage to save the village. It always did whenever that place was in danger. I knew that causing an earthquake would draw it right to the machine you built," explained Cecil.

"Maybe so, but I never intended for the seismic generator to be used in such a fashion. I originally designed that machine as a way to either nullify or reduce the power of a real earthquake. Just imagine, being able to prevent the destruction of a large city with the push of a button," explained Dr. Newman.

"Yes, but enough about that pile of scrap," said Cecil, "Tell me, how goes research on that…object the hexagon brothers retrieved?"

"I've made considerable progress," said Dr. Newman, "I managed to reverse engineer the cannon on the armor's right shoulder and even had several exact copies made, just as you ordered. Of course, Isaac, Albert, Benjamin, Thomas, Leonardo and Galileo made this endeavor possible."

"Who?" asked a bewildered Cecil. Dr. Newman pointed once again at his group of six Alakazams.

"This cannon appears to be some sort of a 'Capture Cannon' that would allow the user to capture Pokémon easily," explained Dr. Newman.

"And even allow the user to steal Pokémon from their trainers?" asked Cecil with interest.

"Well, yes," said Dr. Newman with a frown, "But such a thing is certainly not ethical."

"Splendid!" said Cecil triumphantly, "How about you outfit some of our troops with these cannons? We can have them storm Gardev and then steal the Pokémon from all the citizens with ease."

"I suppose…" said Dr. Newman with a scowl, "I have 20 of these capture cannons ready to go, but stealing Pokémon from their trainers?! Besides, I still don't even know what all of the circuitry within the cannon is for."

"We need to cover our losses somehow, besides, have you made the adjustments to the shadow chamber at this base?" asked Cecil.

"Yes," replied Dr. Newman.

"Perfect. We'll be able to create an army of shadow Pokémon in less than a day, then," said Cecil as he started for the door, "You, Dr. Newman, will outfit the troops and instruct them on how to use the capture cannons. We'll send the troops after wild Pokémon, since you're too afraid to steal Pokémon."

"Yes, sir…" replied Dr. Newman as Cecil left the room.

**-18-**

Hours later, Mack arrived back at the shaft where he had discovered Cipher's mountain base. Mack was amazed that not only he wasn't extremely tired, but the shaft was completely intact. He slowly descended into the ruined base using the stairwells. Minutes later, he was on the ground.

"Now, where was I?" asked Mack to himself as he gazed left and right. His gaze soon fell on the collapsed corridor where he had been pinned. Mack ran to the rock pile in the hallway and to his horror, found that someone had already unearthed the S-100 and had stolen it.

"Wonderful…" grumbled Mack, "At least if the S-100 was stolen, no one would be able to understand how it works." Mack decided he was going to need some help. Before he started to leave, Mack took a closer look at the pile of rocks. Though he could not see it, there seemed to be something under one of the rocks. Mack removed the rock and, much to his surprise, discovered a ruby pendant of some sort. He picked it up and gazed into the gem.

"Aura must have been wearing this. I didn't even notice it," thought Mack.

"At any rate, I'd better go back to my lab," thought Mack as he started running up the stairs to the surface, "Somehow I'll have to tell K-1 what happened. Maybe he and Central will be able to split Aura and me apart safely. Of course, Cipher will have to be dealt with too. I'd better drop this pendant off back at Gardev before I go to my lab, though."

**-19-**

It was now late in the afternoon when Mack arrived back at his hidden lab. Getting into the lab would be easy with his ID card, but dealing with K-1 and Central would be another story. Mack could not imagine what would happen if K-1 thought a Pokémon had broken into the lab. Nevertheless, Mack inserted his card into a hidden slot in a rock wall. The rock wall moved aside to reveal the elevator and Mack stepped inside. With the press of a button, he was on his way back into his lab. As the door opened, Mack ran to a corner and quickly gazed into the main room: no one was there and the only sounds he heard were the electronic clicks from Central. Mack cautiously turned around and faced the wall behind him. In the wall there were a few glass cases with weapons inside them. Quietly, he opened one of the panels and pulled out a black rifle. As Mack turned off the safety, it came to life with a soft click. This weapon was an FIW-36 Disruptor Rifle: its purpose was simply to disrupt complex electronics and machinery without damaging them. Mack knew K-1 would not recognize him, so this rifle would allow Mack to deal with K-1 without hurting him. With the rifle in his hands, he slowly entered the main room and started to approach Central's main control panel. Just as he was reaching for the keyboard, K-1 walked into the room. K-1 went slack-jawed as he saw a Gardevoir holding a rifle.

"What's the meaning of this?!" shouted K-1, "How did you get in here?!"

"K-1, take it easy," said Mack.

"How do you know my name? Ah! You're a psychic Pokémon! Of course! If you give me that rifle back right now and leave, I won't hurt you," said K-1.

"K-1, I was fused with a Gardevoir while trying to escape from Cipher's base on Mt. Terror. To make matters worse, I think they stole the S-100. I'm going to need these weapons and your help to…" explained Mack.

"Enough! I don't know what you're doing here, but you're not leaving now," said K-1, "I'm sure Mack will be quite thrilled when he learns that I captured a Gardevoir for him!" K-1 took a few steps back and grabbed a Pokéball from a nearby shelf. Before K-1 could throw the Pokéball, Mack pointed the rifle at K-1 and pulled the trigger. With that, a blue bolt of energy shot out of the rifle and then slammed into K-1, knocking him off his feet.

"Urrg…" crackled K-1, "System…disruption detected…"

"Let me explain!" shouted Mack.

"Central…" said K-1 with a few clicks, "Activate…security protocol #34…6…" Mack stood back and readied himself. As soon as K-1 finished giving the command, the entire security system in the lab would go off.

"Pika!" said William as he wandered into the room. K-1 stopped speaking. K-1 noticed that William was staring at the Gardevoir.

"Hmmm?" said Mack as he gazed at the Pikachu.

"Pika! Pikachu-pika!" is what K-1 heard William say.

"Mack? Is that you?" asked William.

"I can understand him," thought Mack.

"Mack!" said William has he happily jumped into the Gardevoir's arms.

"William! Get away from that Gardevoir!" exclaimed K-1.

"Mack! Where were you? I was worried that you had been hurt," said William, "What happened to you?"

"It's a long story…" started Mack as K-1 stared on in disbelief.

"Either I'm going mad, or William seems to know this Gardevoir very well," thought K-1 as he activated his translator. K-1 listened carefully.

"I'll bet you don't know who I am," said William with a grin.

"Really? Who are you then?" asked Mack.

"I was your Pikachu, remember?" said William.

"Is that so? If you're my old Pikachu, why did you attack me?" demanded Mack.

"Simple, my friends and I wanted to score some serious voltage. So I led them here and while we were recharging, you came out in that weird armor of yours and scared off my friends," said William, "I recognized you instantly, but since I didn't want to be your partner at the time, I figured I would give you a run for your money."

"And your attempt failed miserably," laughed Mack.

"Yep," chuckled William, "I never expected you to use that cannon to capture me. You've outdone yourself as usual."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" asked K-1 as he got back on his feet. The effects of the disruptor rifle were finally wearing off.

"Let me explain," said Mack as he then told the story of how he had come across a hidden village, a secret Cipher base and his rescue of Aura, the guardian of the village Gardev. K-1 and William listened carefully.

"But how did you get fused with that Gardevoir, Aura?" asked K-1.

"I think I know what happened: Aura was trying to teleport her and me to safety when the control panel on my left gauntlet starting sparking," explained Mack.

"Let me guess: the S-100's teleportation systems malfunctioned," said K-1.

"Yes," said Mack, "Now I need you and Central to figure out a way to safely separate Aura and I."

"I think we can handle that," said K-1 as he saw Mack grab a few more rifles from the glass cases in the hallway, "but what do you need those weapons for?"

"Isn't it obvious?" said Mack as he grabbed some spare power cells from a nearby shelf, "As long as Aura and I are like this, I will have to watch over the village." K-1 was bewildered.

"Again I say, what do you need those weapons for? You're a psychic Pokémon now! You should be able to crush anything that gets in your way," said K-1.

"If only it was that simple," groaned Mack, "I can't use any of my powers except for telepathy now… These weapons are all I have now. If Cipher tries anything again, it will be up to me to deal with them."

"Now I've heard it all," said K-1 with dismay, "A psychic Pokémon that can't use its powers and has to use a bunch of high-tech weaponry."

"At any rate, I'm going back to Gardev. I'll take the S-12 hovercycle with me and any other supplies I'll need," said Mack as he put the extra power cells into a black satchel and then put the satchel on his right shoulder.

"Can I come too?" asked William eagerly.

"If Cipher comes back to the village, it will be dangerous, but you can come if you want," said Mack.

"Yeah!" said William happily as he jumped onto Mack's left shoulder.

"Central and I will get to work at once. I'll report to you if I find out anything interesting," said K-1 as Mack started to leave.

"Okay. See you later," said Mack as he left the room.

**-20-**

Less than an hour later, Mack drove into Gardev. For the villagers, seeing their guardian wearing sunglasses and doing banking was one thing, but now their guardian was driving into town on a flying motorcycle with rifles and a Pikachu on her shoulders.

"As if I couldn't draw enough unwanted attention…" muttered Mack as he drove to Warren's house. Makoto and Sakura were stunned as they saw Aura drive by.

"Mommy, what does she need those guns for?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know," replied Makoto. Warren and Jake were nearby.

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder," said Jake with disbelief. Warren watched Aura as she drove up to his house.

"Something is wrong here," said Warren, "I think Aura is trying to hide something." Mack managed to sneak into Warren's house and into Aura's room where he quickly stashed the rifles and his other supplies under the bed. Next, he pulled some drafting paper and pencils from out of a suitcase he had managed to smuggle in. He laid the paper flat on a desk in the room and then sat down in the chair. Picking up a pencil he feverishly started sketching and calculating, trying to find a solution to the problem of separating him and Aura. Hours later, Mack threw his 35th drawing of a machine into the trash and broke the pencil in half out of frustration.

"Can't figure it out, eh?" asked William as he sat down on the bed.

"I've always known what could happen if a teleporter were to malfunction, but I've never had to put any though into finding a way to reverse the effects," sighed Mack as he threw the broken pencil out a window.

"Maybe you should sleep on the idea?" suggested William.

"I couldn't agree more…" yawned Mack as he shut off the lights in the room climbed into bed, "At least this bed is comfortable." Mack and William soon fell into a deep sleep.

**-21-**

K-1 paced back and forth as Central put every ounce of her power into finding a solution to Mack's problem.

"A most perplexing situation," said Central.

"Indeed," groaned K-1, "But at least the long range sensors are back online again. Plus Mack placed a small sensor array somewhere in Gardev."

"Still no sign of the S-100 Type I either," said Central.

"Figures…" muttered K-1 as he continued to pace.

"Wait…what have we here?" said Central as the picture on the main view screen changed.

"Huh? Looks like the same signature as the tracking device we put in the capture claw, but why are there 20 of them?" asked K-1.

"Illogical. There is only one capture claw," said Central as she started running calculations, "The chances of someone being able to reverse engineer any of the primary components of the S-100 Type I is 1 to 3.678 trillion."

"What about the capture claw itself? That machine isn't nearly as complex as the rest of the armor," said K-1.

"Correct, but it would take a human with an IQ of 150 and centuries to be able to understand the full workings of the capture claw," said Central.

"Whatever those things are, they're heading straight for Gardev," said K-1 as he checked a shelf full of radios, "And Mack did not take a radio with him either."

**-22-**

Mack awoke swiftly to find William on his chest and yelling at him to wake up.

"Wake up, Mack! Wake up!" shouted William as Mack jumped to his feet. William slid off his chest and fell head first onto the floor.

"What's wrong?!" demanded Mack.

"Can't you hear it? I think there's something going on in the town square," said William as he got to his feet and glanced out a window. Mack looked out the window and in the darkness he saw several shadows and flashes of red light in the darkness. He could hear people and other Pokémon screaming.

"They must have returned!" said Mack with fright as he quickly grabbed some power cells and an FIW-37 Combo Rifle from under the bed. The FIW-37 was a multi-purpose weapon. It featured a stun cannon, a turbo plasma cannon, a plasma thrower and it could also fire bursts of several small bolts of plasma, much like a shotgun fires dozens of metal balls at high speeds. The FIW-37 could also be used as a long-range rifle that was accurate up to 1,000 yards. Mack jumped out a window in the room and started running. Mack figured he could head them off at the entrance of Gardev. As he ran unnoticed through the darkness in the town square, he could just barely see people. Many of them were either crying or pounding the streets with their fists in anger.

"What happened here?" thought Mack, "They all seem like they've lost something very important."

Mack soon caught sight of two Cipher troopers just at the town entrance. Each of them had a strange cannon mounted on their right shoulders. Mack readied himself. He got the rifle off his shoulder into his hands and set it for stun mode. Mack opened fire on the two troopers, but much to his shock, Mack discovered that he had became extremely inaccurate. Using a rifle with only 6 fingers instead of 10 was a new experience for Mack. The troopers stopped in their tracks and faced Mack as bolts of orange light flew past them.

"What's this?" asked one trooper.

"Another Gardevoir?" asked the other.

"A replacement must have arrived, or something."

"A Gardevoir with a machine gun?"

"No matter! Open fire! Cecil will be pleased to have a replacement for that failed experiment." The troopers opened fire and red blasts of light flew at Mack. Much to Mack's surprise, he was still very nimble and acrobatic despite the white gown that he now wore and dodged the blasts with ease. Mack could almost see the shots coming before they were even fired. Mack quickly dove behind a large boulder at the town entrance for cover as more orange beams lanced harmlessly off the large rock. Mack clutched the rifle close to his chest.

"I really wish I had done some target practice before I left the lab," muttered Mack. The two troopers continued their attack.

"It's no good! We can't capture it while it's behind that rock!" said one trooper.

"No matter, we've got enough of a haul as it is. Let's retreat back to the base!" said the other trooper.

"Roger that!" said the first trooper as the two of them started running for the forest. Mack poked his head out from behind the boulder and took a quick look at the troopers' mysterious cannons. The design seemed very familiar, but he could not quite tell because of the darkness. Mack pressed a switch on the rifle and a scope immediately popped out of the top of the rifle. Mack then pressed a small switch on the scope, turning on its night vision mode. Mack looked through the scope and chose his target. He figured that if he stunned or killed one of the troopers, they would be back with an even larger force. He soon found his mark and quickly pulled the trigger. With that, a bright red beam shot out of the rifle and hit one of the troopers' cannons right where it was attached to his shoulder. The trooper shrieked with fear as the cannon fell to the ground as a bunch of Pokéballs flew out of the cannon onto the ground.

"What was that?!" demanded the other trooper, "Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay!" said the trooper as he quickly collected the loose Pokéballs.

"This doesn't make any sense!" thought Mack, "Why would a cannon be filled with Pokéballs?"

"I'll grab the cannon!" said the trooper as he ran to his comrade's damaged weapon.

"Oh, no you don't…" growled Mack as he feverishly pulled the trigger. The trooper jumped back as several beams of red light hit the ground and exploded just inches from his feet.

"Forget this! Retreat!" said the trooper as he got his comrade to his feet.

"What about the cannon?" asked the other trooper.

"Forget about it! It's probably broken anyway!" said the trooper as they ran into the darkness of the forest. Mack got out from behind the boulder as he heard some sort of vehicle start up and then drive away with great haste. Mack pressed a few switches on the rifle and it teleported back to Aura's room with a flash. Mack grabbed the damaged weapon and walked back towards the town square. As he did, the townspeople stared at him. Mack could sense that they were all horrified and grieving. Mack walked past a little girl as she was holding onto her mother.

"Its okay, Sakura…" said Makoto as she tried to console her daughter.

"Mommy…" sobbed Sakura, "Why did they take my Mawile?"

"I don't know," said Makoto softly, "I don't know why they took everyone else's Pokémon either."

Mack walked by, trying to hide his face behind the damaged cannon. He glared at the half-melted weapon.

"Cipher stole their Pokémon…but how?" thought Mack as he examined the cannon closely, "It's virtually impossible for any human to replicate such a weapon as the Capture Claw in only a few days!" Mack walked back into Aura's room, tossed the damaged weapon onto the desk and fell on the bed, burying his face into one of the pillows. Mack could not believe what had happened. He could have at least recovered the Pokéballs that had fallen from the cannon after he had blasted it cleanly off of the trooper's shoulder, but he didn't.

"First day on the job…and I'm a failure…" groaned Mack, "but what choice did I have?! I'm powerless!"

"What happened?" asked William gently as he rubbed against Mack's left arm.

"You don't want to know…" sobbed Mack. Crying was very unusual for him. "I let everyone down…now Cipher has taken some of their best friends away…" William jumped onto the desk.

"And what about this thing?" asked William as he prodded at the cannon, "What is it?"

"I really don't know…" muttered Mack.

"Maybe it's just me, but this piece of junk looks a lot like your Capture Claw," said William. Mack sat up on the bed.

"That's impossible," said Mack as he dried his eyes.

"I think I would know a Capture Claw when I see one. Remember, I've seen one of these things inside and out," explained William as Mack walked over towards him and eyed the cannon more closely.

"You're right…" said Mack with astonishment and fear.

"Maybe you didn't notice because of how dark it is out side?" suggested William.

"That's possible!" said Mack as he checked the cannon more closely.

"Maybe we're on to them! Maybe we can stop them!" said William with delight. Mack slumped back into bed.

"And stop them with what?" said Mack in a depressed tone, "I can't use any of my powers except telepathy, I can't use any of my usual weapons and the S-100 has been stolen…"

"Maybe you'll feel better in the morning," sighed William as he turned off the light in the room.

"Perhaps I will…" said Mack as William jumped onto the bed and fell asleep at Mack's feet.


	6. Section 6

**-23-**

It was a bright sunny day in Gardev. The only thing that seemed to be ominous about this day was the thunderstorms looming off in the distance. Warren was sitting at his desk, signing some papers, when he noticed something strange: the coffee in the mug at his desk was starting to shake back and forth. Warren looked into the coffee mug with curiosity as the coffee shook back and forth faster and faster. Soon, much more than his coffee was shaking. Warren gripped his desk tightly to steady himself as he felt the floor under his feet shake back and forth more and more ferociously.

"An earthquake? Here?! That's impossible!" shouted Warren as Jake ran into the office, barely able to stay on his feet.

"What's going on?!" shouted Jake with fear.

"Be quiet and get in the door frame!" ordered Warren as he climbed under his desk. Jake braced himself in the doorframe of the office. The shaking seemed to be getting worse as time ticked by. Warren and Jake weren't the only ones who were noticing this freak earthquake. Just across town, Paul was in his store and could not understand what was going on.

"This can't be happening!" shouted Paul as he jumped under the desk at the front of his store. He watched fearfully as the shelves in his store started teetering back and forth.

"And THIS is why I left San Francisco!" muttered Paul, "I thought that this place never had earthquakes!"

Sakura and her mother, Makoto, had fallen to their feet while in the street. Makoto watched with disbelief as cracks appeared in the pavement and started to get wider with every second. Sakura screamed as a white flash suddenly flew overhead. Sakura and Makoto looked up and saw Aura, floating above them. Aura crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Warren sat still and looked on with amazement as a blue aura surrounded everything in his office, including himself and Jake. Loose objects in the office were also floating a few inches into the air. Paul was equally surprised as his shop lit up in blue light.

"Is the end near? Am I seeing things?" thought Paul. Sakura and Makoto looked on as the entire town became enshrouded in a blue aura. The shaking suddenly stopped. Makoto looked around and saw that the ground just outside the village was shaking violently. Suddenly, the shaking stopped. Aura opened her eyes and clapped her hands together once. With that, a blue wave of light traveled out in all directions from her. Makoto watched with amazement as the cracks in the pavement closed up while the huge fissures in the ground outside the village quickly closed up as well. In a matter of minutes, it seemed almost like no earthquake had even struck. Aura floated down near Makoto and Sakura.

"Are you okay?" asked Aura softly. Sakura ran up and hugged Aura. Aura wrapped her arms around Sakura as she laughed.

"Thank you, Aura!" said Sakura with a smile. Warren climbed out from under his desk just as the floating papers and pencils landed quietly back in their places. Warren glanced out the window and saw Aura as she held his grand daughter. He breathed a sign of relief and wiped some sweat off his brow.

"What on earth just happened?" asked Jake. Sakura continued to hug Aura. Aura's gaze soon turned towards Mt. Terror. Sakura looked up at Aura's face.

"Do you have to leave now?" asked Sakura with some sadness.

"Yes," said Aura as she gently set Sakura back on her feet, "Something is wrong. I must find out what happened."

"Wait! You almost forgot something!" said Sakura as she quickly ran to Warren's house. Minutes later, Sakura returned to Aura with a small gold box in her hands. Sakura opened the box and slowly removed a large ruby pendant. Aura knelt down on one knee and smiled as Sakura put the pendant around her neck.

"Thank you, Sakura," said Aura with smile as she dashed past Sakura and Makoto and off towards Mt. Terror. Warren watched as Aura disappeared into the forest.

"I'm really glad they've become such good friends," said Warren. Mack suddenly sat up in bed. He looked at the desk in the room. The pendant was still there.

"What kind of significance does that pendant have anyway?" thought Mack as his attention quickly shifted to the bedroom door. He heard some faint voices outside the door. It was still dark outside as well.

"Yes. Sakura and Aura are good friends, but what do you make of this?" asked Jake.

"I'm not sure," said Warren.

"I think Aura is hiding something," said Jake.

"I agree, let me talk to her," said Warren. Mack wasn't sure what was going on, bit he felt somewhat…different. Warren entered the room and sat down in a chair in one of the corners of the room.

"Aura, is there something you need to tell me?" asked Warren. Mack closed his eyes and bowed his head in dismay. "You don't have to answer right now," said Warren softly, "But whatever you do, please…please save our Pokémon from those devils. I don't want to imagine what they might be doing to our friends right now." Mack wasn't sure why, but he felt very confident now.

"I'm going to rescue them," said Mack as he got to his feet.

"Okay, Aura, just be careful out there. Dr. Foxx never did return and I can't lose you. You mean so much to the people of this town," said Warren.

"Don't worry," said Mack with a friendly smile, "Leave everything to me."

"Very well. Good luck, Aura," said Warren softly as he got up and picked up the pendant, "Don't forget to take this with you."

"Of course!" said Mack with a smile as he put the pendant around his neck. Mack did not care much for jewelry, but he decided that he had better do what ever he could to convince the townspeople that he was Aura. Warren left the room and closed the door behind him. Mack glanced at his hands and then at the coffee mug on the desk. It seemed like this time, he would succeed. He waved his hand in the air and the mug slid across the desk.

"That was almost effortless," thought Mack as he tried using telekinesis on every object in the room. Soon, all the furniture and everything else in the room was floating in the air, including William as he finally woke up.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" demanded William as Mack carefully set everything back in its place.

"Sorry…" said Mack with embarrassment, "I got a bit carried away."

"Oh, I see…wait…did you just do what I think you did?" asked William with disbelief.

"Yes!" said Mack happily, "I think I can use my powers again!"

"How about teleporting?" asked William. Mack suddenly disappeared with a flash and then promptly reappeared on the other side of the room.

"Okay…how about a few psychic attacks?" suggested William. Mack hesitated.

"I don't think that would be such a good idea, especially since we're indoors right now. I don't need to tear this house apart, agreed?" said Mack.

"Agreed," said William bashfully, "But I know of a good spot to train!"

"Really? Lead the way!" said Mack with excitement. With that, Mack and William ran out the door, out of the house and soon they were running though the forest.

"Just follow me, Mack. I know of a good meadow that you can train at," said William. Soon, they came to a clearing in the forest that was covered with flowers. The meadow seemed to go on for miles. Off in the distance, they heard the rumbling of the thunderstorms. It almost seemed ominous to what lay ahead.

"Here I go," said Mack.

"Just let it all loose here," said William, "but first, let me get to safety!" As William ran off, Mack faced the mountains. Mack stood still as the sun started rising over the craggy peaks. As the warmth hit his face, he focused. He flung his hands outward and a psychic wave shot along the ground, rustling the flowers. Mack focused even more and tore boulders out of the ground. He threw them off into the distance, but before they hit the ground, he brought them back to the meadow and carefully slid them back into the ground using telekinesis. Mack paused and noticed that many of the flowers around where he had pulled the boulders up were bent and broken.

"I can use Aura's psychic powers. They are just like mine…but what about my own power?" thought Mack. He stood still and focused. As he did, a white light radiated from his right hand. He slowly brought his right hand forward. As he did, a slow wave of white light moved along the ground. As it passed over the ground, the flowers were healed as the light moved onward.

"Just a few more tests," thought Mack as he slowly floated into the air. He focused and flung his left hand forward. Suddenly, a beam of light shot out into the distance. Mack focused deeply now as a bubble of light formed around him and as the panels of his gown fluttered.

"This is it!" yelled Mack. With a shout, the bubble exploded into a bright light that lit up the mountains. The people of Gardev looked on as the brilliant flash got their attention.

"What on earth?" asked Paul to himself as he jumped out the front door of his shop. Warren and Jake looked on.

"Was that Aura?" asked Jake with amazement.

"It must have been," said Warren as he gazed through his glasses, "But where did she learn something like that?" Mack slowly floated back to the ground as William ran up to him.

"What do you think?" asked William.

"I think its time to strike. Let's head back to Warren's house, first," said Mack. With that William and Mack headed back towards Gardev.

**-24-**

Minutes later, Mack and William arrived back at Warren's house. Much to Mack's horror, he found Warren and Jake with shotguns pointed at K-1!

"Keep back!" shouted Jake.

"Don't make us do this!" warned Warren as he cocked the shotgun.

"Hey! Stop!" shouted Mack. Warren and Jake lowered their weapons.

"What is this thing? Some sort of robot? Is it yours?" asked Warren with confusion.

"He's not exactly mine, but he's my friend," replied Mack.

"Okay. I'm sorry," said Warren as he and Jake walked away.

"Nice timing," said K-1 with relief.

"What are you doing here anyway, K-1?" asked Mack.

"Well, I tracked you here via the tracking device in the FIW-37. That and I couldn't just sit still after that light show this morning that lit up the mountains for miles!" explained K-1 with some irritation in his voice.

"Yes. Mack certainly made quite a spectacle of himself, didn't he?" laughed William.

"Say, have you and Central made any progress?" asked Mack anxiously.

"You mean about safely splitting you and Aura apart? None so far, I'm afraid…" replied K-1 with sadness, "Perhaps if I ran some tests on you…"

"That will have to wait!" interrupted Mack. He felt something and it was compelling him to go back into the forest.

"Okay, but what are you up too?" asked K-1.

"The people of this village lost their Pokémon to Cipher and I couldn't do a thing about it," said Mack, "But now, I know what I have to do. I have to go after them and rescue the town's Pokémon!"

"What should I do in the meantime?" asked K-1.

"William, show K-1 the cannon I recovered last night," said Mack as he ran off towards the forest. K-1 seemed bewildered.

"What cannon?" asked K-1.

"I'll show you. Follow me," said William as he led K-1 into the house.

**-25-**

Mack didn't know why, but he felt like he had been in this part of the forest before. Mack also pondered about the dream he had last night. He figured that he had somehow seen some of Aura's memories of the day the quake had struck Gardev. Aura must have also remembered what other people were doing and what they were feeling and seeing at the time. At any rate, Mack felt like he was getting closer to his goal in the woods, but he was not sure where he was going. Suddenly, some small, steel towers loomed over the forest. Mack stopped in his tracks. He must have come across the main facility for Cipher in the area. Mack hid behind some trees and checked out the buildings. The towers each had several guards in them. The entire facility, itself, was behind thick concrete walls that were covered with barded-wire. Mack noticed something else, mostly about himself. For once, he was not the least bit tired, despite all the exercise he had gotten this morning testing out his powers. Mack pondered for a moment and tried focusing again. Mack concentrated carefully as beams of white light surrounded him. The light soon started bending. When Mack opened his eyes, there was a faint aura of light around him.

"Here goes," thought Mack as he stepped out in the open. The guards did not seem to see him. He jumped up and down, making faces at them, but they didn't budge. Mack grinned as he picked up a small rock and threw it at the nearest tower. The rock hit a window on the tower, cracking it.

"What was that?" asked one guard as he dropped a doughnut onto the floor.

"What was what?" asked another guard with his face buried in a magazine. Mack was ecstatic. He had finally managed to bend light around himself just right in order to become invisible.

"At least getting in will be easy," though Mack, but he knew he would have to be very careful. It took a lot of concentration in order to stay invisible. If something caught him off guard, he might loose control of his power and would be seen by the guards. Mack was not about to be caught in a Capture Claw by some Cipher peon.

**-26-**

Dr. Newman was furious. He pounded his desk with frustration. Just hours ago, he had heard what the troopers had done. Dr. Newman had been told just after the troops had been deployed that they were off to hunt wild Pokémon with the new Capture Cannons. Instead, the bums had walked right into Gardev and had stolen every last Pokémon from the town's citizens. He couldn't believe that Cecil had lied to his face about this. Still, a few things puzzled Dr. Newman as he finally regained his composure and sat down at his desk. First, no one could figure out where this strange suit of armor had come from. Second, the reports from two of the troopers were most perplexing. They both spoke of a Gardevoir, wielding a strange machine gun of some sort. One mentioned that the Gardevoir managed to blast the capture cannon off his shoulder as he and his friend were escaping. Dr. Newman almost wished that they had left the Pokéballs behind that had spilled out of the damaged cannon. Dr. Newman was certain that the guardian of Gardev, Aura, had returned. Either that or a replacement had been sent. His theory was confirmed only hours earlier when a mysterious flash lit up the surrounding mountains.

"Do you think I'm crazy, Albert?" asked Dr. Newman to an Alakazam with a green necktie. Albert shook his head in disagreement. Dr. Newman soon turned his attention to the computer screen on his desk. After typing in a few commands, he got a view of two other Pokémon he had never come across before. There, sleeping in glass tubes, were a Kirlia and a Ralts. Dr. Newman was quite relieved when Cecil said that he could have them. The two Pokémon had been discovered behind a dumpster in the facility and were immediately captured. Some of the personnel had suspected the two Pokémon of spying. Dr. Newman was at least glad that the capture cannons were painless. Cecil suddenly entered the room. Dr. Newman glared at him.

"What's bothering you?" asked Cecil with confusion.

"What's bothering me?!" shouted Dr. Newman, "You lied to me! You said those troopers were going to capture wild Pokémon and instead, they stole Pokémon from the citizens back at Gardev!"

"Relax," said Cecil, "We had to cover our losses somehow, especially if we want Master Greevil to continue funding our projects. Master Greevil was very pleased with the haul the troopers brought in: over 100 Pokémon!"

"Stolen Pokémon," grumbled Dr. Newman.

"At any rate, Master Greevil has approved our plans for Project Epsilon and wants us to begin at once!" said Cecil with glee, "The possibilities are endless for this project."

"I'll get to work on that right away. I just need access to the armor suit," said Dr. Newman.

"Granted," said Cecil as he started to leave the room.

"By the way," asked Dr. Newman, "When will I receive that Kirlia and Ralts that were captured?"

"I'll have them released to you within the hour after they have been through the shadowfication process. Now, get busy! I want to be able to give Master Greevil a demonstration on his next visit to this facility," said Cecil as he left the room. Dr. Newman turned towards his Alakazams.

"Cecil is going to have them turned into shadow Pokémon?!" thought Dr. Newman with fear, "What's the point in that? Ralts and Kirlia are known as the feeling and emotion Pokémon. What would they be like as unfeeling, well, robots?! I hope the guardian, wherever it is, breaks in here and gets them out of here! I'd rather they went back to the wild safe and sound, than to be a couple of shadow Pokémon, agreed?" The Alakazams nodded their heads in agreement.


	7. Section 7

**-27-**

Mack was almost bewildered and disappointed on just how easily he had gotten into the facility. Still, he had a close call at the gate when one soldier unknowingly stepped on a back panel of his skirt. Fortunately, the soldier kept walking and Mack didn't end up tripping and falling on his face. He just walked through the complex almost silently as guards and soldiers were on patrol or just killing time. He almost wished he had gone into the facility, blasting everything in site. Still, it's rather hard to explore an area while you're being shot at. The last thing Mack needed was to be caught by a soldier who happened to have a capture claw on hand. Mack walked over to what seemed to be a back door on the largest building in the facility. After unlocking it with just a bit of telekinesis, he slipped in and started exploring the hallways. Oddly enough, Mack once again felt like he had been here before. Not just that, but he could swear that he heard some voices coming from one of the rooms and they were not human. Mack stood still as something came to his mind.

"Holding room number 2 is in sector 5, just down the hall to the left," thought Mack as he walked down the hallways. Soon, Mack was at the main entrance to the building. To his left, a sliding door opened as a soldier walked out. Mack dashed into the room as the door shut. He soon discovered where the voices had been coming from: two Pokémon, a Kirlia and a Ralts were in glass tubes and were awake. Mack checked the area for more guards, then he let his invisibility wear off.

"See? I told you she would come!" said Kirlia with a smile as she noticed the Gardevoir.

"Good thing she did come for us!" snapped Ralts, "I heard that they were going to turn us into shadow Pokémon!"

"What are shadow Pokémon?" asked Kirlia.

"I don't know, but I don't like the sound of it," said Ralts with a shudder.

"Um…" said Mack with hesitation, "What are you two doing here?"

"We heard that you were captured! We were not going to let those meanies hurt our big sister!" said Kirlia. Mack paused.

"This can't be good…" thought Mack.

"So much for our rescue," muttered Ralts.

"Yeah," said Kirlia with embarrassment, "Say, Aura? Would you please let us out of these things?"

"Um…of course!" said Mack as he searched for and then quickly found a control terminal. With the press of a few buttons, the tubes opened up. Ralts and Kirlia walked out of the tubes. Suddenly, the Kirlia ran at Mack and jumped into his arms, crying.

"Thank you for saving us, Aura! I was so scared!" sobbed Kirlia as Mack held Kirlia with a worried look on his face.

"I hate to break up our reunion, but I think we had better be quiet," warned Ralts and he heard a guard walk by the door. Things had certainly gotten more complicated for Mack. Not only did he have to locate and rescue the stolen Pokémon, but he would have to keep a close eye on Ralts and Kirlia. To make matters even more daunting, this Ralts and Kirlia were Aura's little brother and sister. Mack set Kirlia back on her feet.

"Let's get out of here!" said Ralts as he tugged at Mack's left hand.

"I can't go yet," explained Mack, "These people stole all the Pokémon that belonged to the people of Gardev. I have to find them and get them out of this facility."

"Can we help?" asked Kirlia with excitement.

"I'm afraid not," replied Mack.

"No fair!" said Kirlia with disgust as Ralts started laughing.

"Some things never change," chuckled Ralts as Mack started focusing his power.

"What are you doing?" asked Kirlia.

"I'm teleporting you two out of here. You can wait for me near the front gate, but stay hidden. I don't want to have to rescue both of you again, okay?" asked Mack.

"Sure thing, sis!" said Ralts with a salute.

"If we have too…" answered Kirlia with a sigh. A few seconds later, they disappeared in a flash. Mack quickly turned invisible as a guard rushed into the room and discovered that the Kirlia and Ralts were missing.

"Oh, no! Cecil is going to have my head for this!" shouted the guard as he ran out of the room and down the hallway.

"I better make this quick," thought Mack as he ran silently out of the room and down another hallway. Once again, Mack felt like he knew where he was going, despite the fact that he had never set foot into this building. Mack stopped in front of a large metal door. He examined the door carefully and tried to decide how to open it. He pulled a satchel off his left shoulder and looked at the gadgets he had brought with him. He could just blow the door off its hinges with a few timer mines, but that would draw far too much attention. He could also cut through the door with his trusty plasma saber, but the extreme heat generated by it could set off alarms or start a fire. Mack then grabbed a small device about the size of a Gameboy and placed it next to the electronic lock. With a few electronic beeps, the little machine started hacking the door controls. He stood still as a few more guards ran by.

"Cecil won't like this!" said one guard.

"No kidding! That Ralts and Kirlia were for Dr. Newman! He might not mind so much that they got away, but Cecil might have us all demoted for losing them!" said the other as they ran by Mack. 30 minutes later, the door finally opened. Mack entered a large dark room. Despite the blackness, he could see several Pokémon in cages and kennels. Each cage and kennel also had an electronic lock.

"I can't hack all of them quickly enough," though Mack as he searched for a computer terminal. He soon found one in the far left corner of the room. All the Pokémon seemed to be asleep. He stepped up to the terminal and tried using his little electronic hacker, but the terminal was a lot more secure and the little device could not manage to hack it. Mack let the invisibility wear off as he put the device back into the satchel.

"This is going to take all my concentration," though Mack as he tried to access the console manually. Half an hour later, Mack finally had found what he needed. He was just about ready to press the button to open the cages, when he heard a voice from outside.

"Let's check the store room!" said a guard as he opened the door, "That's strange…who left this door unlocked?!"

"I must have been me sir, after I checked the Pokémon out about an hour ago," replied another guard as Mack quickly dove behind the terminal out of site. He turned invisible again as the two guards entered the room. They walked to the terminal. The more experienced guard seemed irritated.

"You left the terminal on too?!" thundered the guard.

"I'm sorry, sir!" replied the other guard.

"No matter, this time," said the guard as he switched off the terminal and started walking out of the room with the other guard, "You're new here, so I won't have you punished this time." Mack concentrated and focused his power again.

"Are you sure you want to do this? What would your friends and family think if they found out that you were part of a criminal gang?" asked Mack to the younger guard via telepathy.

"Thank you, sir," said the young guard.

"Well, its time for you to go off duty anyway," said the older guard.

"I think I'll head into Gardev for some snacks. Paul always has something tasty in his shop. I'll make sure they don't know who I'm working for," said the younger guard as the door closed. Mack ran towards the door and tried to open it. Much to his dismay, it was locked again. Since it would take half an hour to hack it again, Mack walked back to the terminal, switched it back on and soon was at the menu for the cage and room controls.

"This should open the cages," though Mack as he pressed a few buttons. With that, the cages and kennels in the room swung open.

"May as well turn the lights on, too," thought Mack as he gazed at the computer monitor and pressed a few more switches. Mack suddenly froze in his tracks as the lights came on and when the Pokémon started to wake up. Mack kept his face on the monitor as a strange feeling of fear and panic came upon him.

"Why do I feel like I've made a horrible mistake?" asked Mack to himself as he slowly peeked out from behind the computer screen. For some odd reason, the Pokémon all had red eyes and were slowly walking towards him.

"What's going on here?" thought Mack fearfully as he tried to focus his power. Mack jumped back into the corner and shrieked when he found out what was wrong: all the Pokémon had a dark aura surrounding each and every one of them. Through telepathy, he got no emotions or feelings from the Pokémon. They had only one thing on their minds: destroy any and all intruders and obey their masters.

"Shadow Pokémon?!" thought Mack with fear, "So…they are real!" Mack turned to his left. A Mawile was just a few yards from him. It turned its back to him with its giant maw of sharp teeth. It opened its mouth and drooled onto the floor.

"Oh, no!" thought Mack as he tried to focus and concentrate, but he couldn't. He was in too much of a panic to think straight as the one hundred some Pokémon came ever closer. Suddenly, the Mawile jumped forward with its toothy mouth, ready to consume the intruder.

"NO!!!" shouted Mack as he threw his hands forward. Instantly, a ray of light shot out, hitting the Mawile. The blast sent it flying backwards into the wall on the far side of the room. Mack glanced at the shadow Pokémon as they hesitated to come any closer. Mack quickly gazed at the Mawile. It was standing back up on its feet. It seemed dazed and somewhat confused.

"Where am I?" asked the Mawile. Mack focused and took a closer look at Mawile. The dark aura that had surrounded it was completely gone. Mack could also sense its feelings and emotions. The Mawile seemed perplexed and somewhat scared as it looked around the room.

"Eureka!" shouted Mack as he got to his feet. The shadow Pokémon glared at him and started running towards him.

"Huh?" asked Mawile as she faced the Gardevoir, "What are you doing, Aura?" Mack focused deeply and started floating a few inches off the ground as the panels of his skirt fluttered. Mawile watched, amazed, as Aura was building up her power.

"I've never seen Aura use power like this before. What's going on?" thought Mawile as a bubble of light surrounded Aura. Moments later, the bubble of light exploded outward into a wave of light that swept through the room, knocking all the shadow Pokémon to their feet. Mawile held onto the doorframe as the wave passed over him. Mack set back down on his feet and looked around the room. The other Pokémon no longer had the dark auras around them and they were now getting back to their feet. Another Kirlia ran over to the Mawile.

"Are you alright?" asked the Kirlia.

"I'm just fine, thanks to Aura," said Mawile. Mack glanced at them.

"You know each other?" asked Mack.

"Of course! I'm Sakura!" said Sakura the Kirlia.

"The name's Li," said Li the Mawile.

"Interesting," said Mack.

"Sakura named us after some characters from one of her favorite anime," explained Sakura.

"It's rather confusing sometimes. Whenever someone calls out the name Sakura, we're never sure whether they mean the little girl or the Kirlia," laughed Li.

"I see," chuckled Mack, "Now we need to get out of here."

"Where are we anyway?" asked Li.

"We're in the middle of a Cipher facility of some kind. I came here to rescue you as well as the rest of the Pokémon those morons had stolen from Gardev," explained Mack.

"I remember!" said Sakura, "Those men in white armor. They came into town and started stealing all the Pokémon. We were powerless against them."

"That reminds me," said Li, "Where did you learn that power? I've never seen you attack with light before." Mack hesitated.

"I'll explain later, for now, we have to get back to Gardev," said Mack as he stared at the door, "First, its going to take another half hour to get this door open."

"Piece of cake!" said Li as he pointed his large mouth at the door. He slowly worked his teeth into the edges and then, with one mighty chomp, bent the door off its frame and spat it out on the opposite side of the store room.

"Alright then," said Mack as his hands became surrounded in a white aura of light, "You all head for the front gate. It's at the other end of this hallway and out the front door of this building. I'll protect you all."

"Okay then! Let's go!" shouted Sakura as she and Li ran down the hallway with the rest of the Pokémon behind them. Mack followed closely behind them. Fortunately, there were no guards in the building. Or, at least there were none in the hallways. Meanwhile, Dr. Newman was at his desk, drinking a cup of green tea. He was somewhat happy that the Kirlia and Ralts had managed to escape, but no one could figure out how they did it. The glass tubes had psychic jammers near them, plus the tubes themselves had powerful energy shields around the inside area to make sure they could not either teleport and blast their way out.

"It must have been the guardian. There's no doubt about it!" though Dr. Newman as he looked at his computer screen and switched the view to that of one of the security cameras. Dr. Newman promptly spat his tea onto the computer screen when he saw a Gardevoir run by the camera with what seemed like a large army of Pokémon.

"Those are the Pokémon that were stolen from Gardev!" thought Dr. Newman with disbelief, "The guardian freed them!" Dr. Newman wasn't quite sure about whether he should activate the alarms or pretend that he didn't see the escaping Pokémon. As he reached for an alarm panel, Albert, the Alakazam with the green necktie, softly grabbed his hand, preventing Dr. Newman from activating the alarm.

"I couldn't agree more!" said Dr. Newman with glee as he sat back down at his desk, drank some tea and whistled innocently. His Alakazams seemed to be laughing. Soon, Mack and the rest of the Pokémon were at the front door. The only problem now was that the guards were all outside, patrolling between buildings and on the streets. Plus, there were the guards in the steel towers along the walls of the complex. Mack looked over the Pokémon, trying to find a way out of this mess. He soon noticed that a Butterfree and a Beautifly were in the group and he got quite an idea.

"Butterfree, Beautifly? Do you both know sleep powder by any chance?" asked Mack.

"Of course we do," replied Butterfree.

"But won't the guards see us?" asked Beautifly with concern.

"That won't be a problem. I can just make the two of you invisible with my power. I need both of you to quickly fly around and use sleep powder on the guards. I'll need you to move quickly, though. I don't know how long I can keep both of you invisible," explained Mack.

"Couldn't you just make all of us invisible and then we could run out the gate?" asked Li.

"It takes a lot of concentration just to make me invisible, Li. I can't possibly make all of us invisible, plus this whole group would make too much noise if we ran out all at once through the gate," explained Mack.

"We're ready," said Butterfree as he and Beautifly flew higher into the air.

"Okay. Good luck and work quickly," said Mack as he closed his eyes and focused. The other Pokémon looked on as Butterfree and Beautifly slowly vanished.

"Incredible," said Sakura with amazement. Li carefully opened the front door and then the two flying Pokémon silently flew out the door. They split up and started spreading sleep powder all over the complex. Li quickly shut the door as some sleep powder nearly drifted into the building. Within a matter of minutes, all the guards were asleep. Mack couldn't help but laugh when he noticed that one of the guards in the towers fell asleep with a doughnut in his mouth. Mack concentrated carefully and told Butterfree and Beautifly to fly back to Gardev. Mack and the rest of the Pokémon would not be far behind. Mack let out a sigh of relief as he relaxed and Butterfree and Beautifly slowly became visible again as they flew off into the distance. Meanwhile, Cecil was running down the hallways towards Dr. Newman's office. Cecil was very worried about how he had suddenly lost all contact with the guards in the facility. He found Dr. Newman at his desk with a cup of green tea at his lips.

"Dr. Newman?!" thundered Cecil, "What is the meaning of this?! I know you designed the communication systems that we use here! So, what the heck is wrong with them now?! I can't get a hold of any of the guards and we're still trying to track down that Kirlia and Ralts that escaped!" Dr. Newman slowly turned his gaze towards Cecil.

"I wasn't aware that the communications systems had failed. Why the only thing that could possibly knock out communications is for someone to destroy the central radio array at this complex," said Dr. Newman as he typed on the keyboard to bring up the required information, "There. Everything is functioning normally." Cecil stood over Dr. Newman's shoulder as he continued typing, checking the surveillance cameras. Dr. Newman stopped in his tracks when one of the cameras showed a Gardevoir in the hallways with a large group of Pokémon.

"How the heck?!" shouted Cecil with rage, "This makes no sense, unless another Gardevoir was sent to replace the one that was killed at Mt. Terror."

"Strange…how did it get past the locks, guards and security system? It would have had to be invisible and be able to hack computers in order for it to break into the store room," said Dr. Newman with amazement. Cecil looked more closely at the Pokémon. The Pokémon no longer had the red tint to their eyes.

"Impossible! Could that Gardevoir have also…healed the shadow Pokémon?!" yelled Cecil with surprise.

"That seems to be the case, though I have no idea how," said Dr. Newman as Cecil grabbed a capture cannon from a nearby shelf.

"This Gardevoir is even more promising than that failure I captured near Mt. Terror. I must have it! I don't even care if the rest of those Pokémon escape!" said Cecil as he ran out the door with Dr. Newman close behind.

"I think you're being too hasty, sir! Won't Master Greevil be angry at you if those Pokémon escape?" asked Dr. Newman with concern.

"It won't matter! Besides, is Project Epsilon ready?" asked Cecil as he powered up the cannon.

"Of course it's ready! We're set to begin the first test!" answered Dr. Newman.

"Excellent. Now to catch that Gardevoir! If it can heal shadow Pokémon, then we can't let it run wild!" said Cecil as he and Dr. Newman ran down the halls. Meanwhile, Mack slowly opened the front door of the building and cautiously peeked out. The guards all seemed to be asleep.

"Make a break for it!" said Mack as he ran back into the building and behind the rest of the Pokémon as they ran out the door and through the front gate. Mack stood still and watched them as they disappeared into the forest.

"Time to make my exit!" thought Mack as he started running back for the door.

"Hold it right there!" said a familiar voice behind Mack. Mack quickly turned around and came face to face with Cecil. Mack jumped back roughly 20 feet.

"Oh, my!" said Dr. Newman with amazement.

"You won't escape me, my pretty little prize!" laughed Cecil as he fired the capture cannon. Mack stood still and focused, praying that there was hope. Mack glanced down just seconds before the blast hit him and noticed that the ruby on his pendant was glowing brightly. Mack blacked out as the energy blast hit him, turned him into a blob of energy and then dragged him down into the cannon. Cecil was ecstatic.

"Success!" shouted Cecil. Dr. Newman was less enthusiastic.

"He's probably going to force me to try to turn this Gardevoir into a shadow Pokémon too…" thought Dr. Newman with dread. Suddenly, the capture cannon on Cecil's left shoulder started smoking and sparking.

"What is the meaning of this?!" shouted Cecil with fright, "I thought these cannons worked flawlessly!"

"Cecil, you fool!" exclaimed Dr. Newman as he yanked the cannon from Cecil's shoulder and then threw it down the hallway. Seconds later, the cannon exploded into a cloud of fire and smoke. Cecil and Dr. Newman stared down the hallway with bewilderment. The smoke slowly cleared and revealed the form of Gardevoir with a glowing red pendant.

"Impossible! What are we dealing with here?!" shouted Cecil as the Gardevoir slowly got back to its feet.

"Is this…the power of this pendant?" though Mack as he gazed into the pendant. He was fading fast and he knew it. His senses were scrambled and his vision was getting blurry.

"It seems like we can not capture the Guardian of Gardev," answered Dr. Newman. He couldn't believe how relieved he was that this Gardevoir had managed to escape capture.

"I'd better get out of here…" thought Mack as he staggered out the door. Cecil and Dr. Newman followed close behind and watched as the Gardevoir ran through the front gate. The Gardevoir seemed to be having trouble with its footing and zigzagged into the forest. Cecil paused to look around the complex and soon noticed that every guard was asleep at their post.

"Extraordinary…" said Cecil, "Maybe with Project Epsilon we could capture if for sure."

"I suggest we try a different target first. Master Greevil will be arriving within a matter of days anyway," said Dr. Newman.

"Good point," said Cecil as he started walking back to his office, "By the way, don't bother the guards. May as well let them sleep for now. They can have a break while we figure out what Pokémon we should target first with Project Epsilon."

"We should choose a Pokémon that is both extremely rare and powerful," said Dr. Newman.

"Indeed," said Cecil. Meanwhile, Mack was staggering through the forest. The Kirlia and Ralts watched as their sister ran by them.

"Huh?" said Ralts with confusion.

"Wait for us!" said Kirlia as they ran after Aura. Mack kept running, though he could not tell which way he was going. His blurry vision and scrambled senses made the going almost too difficult to bear. Suddenly, Mack collided with a green and white object and fell to his feet.

"Whoa!" said a voice as Mack and someone else hit the ground.

"Sorry…" said Mack.

"Are you alright?" said the voice. Mack tried to focus his vision and senses a bit. Mack soon discovered that he had crashed right into a male Gardevoir while running blindly through the woods.

"This can't be good," thought Mack with fear, "Have I run into Aura's boyfriend or something?"

"Sis? What's wrong? You don't look so good," said the voice with concern.

"Pardon…?" asked a groggy Mack.

"You don't recognize me? I'm your younger brother, Ramirez!" said Ramirez as he helped his sister to her feet.

"Sorry, but I need to be alone…" said Mack as he ran off into the forest.

"That was strange," said Ramirez as Kirlia and Ralts walked up next to him.

"Have you seen Aura?" asked Ralts.

"Yeah. She ran off. She did not look very good," said Ramirez.

"What are we waiting for, then? Let's catch up to her!" said Kirlia.

"Yeah!" said Ralts as they ran off after Aura. Minutes later, they found her on the ground, out cold and the pendant was still glowing with a bright red light.

"Aura must have finally figured out how to use that pendant. We'd better get her back home…" said Ramirez with concern as he took Aura up in his arms.

"She knows how to use the pendant now? That's interesting. Are we going to take her back to Gardev?" asked Ralts.

"No. We'd better take her to our home. The elders should know what to do," said Ramirez.

"Good idea!" said Kirlia as Ramirez teleported them all away with a flash of white light.


	8. Section 8

**-28-**

Sakura laughed as she wrapped her arms around her Kirlia and Mawile. Makoto looked on as the rest of the townspeople celebrated at the return of their Pokémon in the town square. Warren was not surprised. He knew that Aura would succeed.

"All the Pokémon came back!" said Jake happily.

"Yes, indeed, but where is Aura now?" asked Warren as he glanced back and forth. Sakura's Kirlia closed her eyes.

"Sakura says that Aura stayed behind to make sure that they all escaped," said Sakura. Some of the townspeople seemed confused.

"Oh, she named her Kirlia after herself," said Makoto with a nervous smile.

"Where could Aura be?" asked Warren with concern. William and K-1 were watching through a window in Aura's room.

"Looks like Mack completed his mission," said K-1 as he turned his attention back to the capture cannon.

"It's nice that the entire town's Pokémon came back, but where is Mack? I'm getting worried about him," said William with fear.

"I'm worried about Mack, too, but this cannon has me more concerned than anything else right now. Whoever made this thing, managed to copy every last circuit! With the exception of the white, metal casing, this cannon is 100 identical to Mack's FIW-74 Capture Claw!" said an astounded K-1.

"I though it was impossible to copy any of Mack's technology," said William.

"It's virtually impossible. Besides, the capture claw itself is much simpler in design than any other part of the S-100," remarked K-1 as he closely studied the cannon.

"I wonder who managed this?" asked William.

"Beats me, but whoever copied the capture claw managed to do it within less than a week. If this person managed that, who knows what could happen in the next few weeks. It's extremely unlikely, but Cipher may be having someone reverse engineer the rest of the S-100 as we speak," explained K-1.

"How could a human do this anyway?" asked William.

"Either we are dealing with someone who is hundreds of times smarter than Albert Einstein, a powerful super computer with an advanced artificial intelligence program or…I have no idea what else could successfully copy the S-100. Without Mack, I don't know how we're going to proceed. Cipher must be stopped soon or I fear that a far greater terror will strike soon. Something far more horrible than having your Pokémon stolen," said K-1.

"Definitely," replied William as K-1 shut off the light in the room.

**-29-**

Weeks passed since the escape of the Pokémon from Cecil's facility. He could hardly believe what was happening now. The leader of Cipher was now visiting his facility and he was most eager to witness Project Epsilon in action. The leader of Cipher typically kept his face hidden and made certain that all his subordinates called him "Master Greevil," mostly because he felt no need to show his face and he demanded respect from his subordinates. Dr. Newman was explaining how the machine worked to Master Greevil.

"The process is simple," said Dr. Newman.

"I'm looking forward to your explanation, but first tell me where you got the knowledge for this technological wonder that you're constructed," said Master Greevil, "With the help of your Alakazams, of course."

"Thank you, sir. If you will please turn your attention to these windows," said Dr. Newman as he pressed a few buttons on a nearby control panel. After he entered the few numbers for the access code, a thick, steel door slowly opened to reveal the tattered remains of some metallic body armor. A few damaged cannons were lying to the left and right of the suit of armor.

"What on earth is this?" asked Master Greevil with amazement.

"The Hexagon Brothers unearthed it from the ruins of our Mt. Terror base. With several weeks of hard work, I've not only discovered that this suit of armor and its weapons are highly advanced, but I have been able to reverse-engineer many of its components and systems with some help," explained Dr. Newman.

"Is it some sort of alien technology?" asked Master Greevil.

"Whatever it is, it can't be from this world," answered Dr. Newman.

"Just leave it to Dr. Newman to be able to put this…thing to good use," interrupted Cecil. Master Greevil seemed to be delighted.

"You never cease to amaze me, Dr. Newman. Only you or your brother could have accomplished something like this," said Master Greevil.

"Sir, if you please, I would prefer if you would not mention my brother to me. You know I don't care much for his…methods," said Dr. Newman.

"Of course, of course," said Master Greevil as he turned his gaze back to the giant machine in the room, "Now, explain to me how this wondrous device works."

"Very well," said Dr. Newman as he walked to another control panel and started pressing buttons and flipping switches, "This, sir, is Project Epsilon. This machine is made up of three main components: the tracer, the teleporter and the holding chamber. The tracer relies on a super computer. When combined with our small network of satellites, we can track any Pokémon in the world based solely on its DNA signature. When we get the proper trace, we can then use the teleporter to bring it into the holding chamber, which in this case, is a series of large capsules. The capsules are heavily reinforced and are also protected by energy barriers that I was able to copy from the suit of armor. We can essentially capture any Pokémon from any location on earth with the press of a few buttons, but the system is too inaccurate to rely only on the computers and satellites. We have to be accurate to the nearest 5 feet. Therefore, a field team has to be sent in to get a visual of the target and then relay information about the target's location. Getting the required information is also simplified with some more technology that was copied from that suit of armor. Using a computerized visor, the field team member can instantly get information on the Pokémon, such as size, weight and its precise location. The Pokémon can't hide. These visors can see anything: heat, ultra-violet light and can even see through several hundred feet of solid rock or metal. Anyway, technicians here simply throw a few switches after the data has been automatically uploaded to our computers at this base. With all that said and done the target Pokémon is teleported into one of the holding capsules. No Pokémon should be able to break out of the capsules. On top of that, one of my other inventions, known as a psychic jammer, will prevent any Pokémon with psychic powers from teleporting away or using telekinesis to manipulate machinery or equipment on the other side of the capsule wall."

"What if the Pokémon tries using other attacks, such as hyper beam?" asked Master Greevil.

"The energy barriers that line the inside of the capsule will absorb any energy-based attacks, like Fire Spin, and send it back at the Pokémon," explained Dr. Newman, "A painful solution, but that should prevent the Pokémon from trying to blast its way out of the capsules. Plus, the shielding will absorb any physical attacks and even prevent Ghost Pokémon from phasing through the capsule walls."

"I hope I won't have to wait long for a demonstration," said Master Greevil with glee.

"You won't have to," interrupted Cecil, "We already have a field team in place. They are tracking our first target and are already uploading the data we need as we speak."

"Splendid!" said Master Greevil with triumph as Dr. Newman signaled the technicians to get ready. The computers soon notified them that all the needed data was acquired.

"We are ready to begin," said one of the technicians as Cecil walked up to Master Greevil's right side.

"Feel free to give the order," said Cecil as Master Greevil grinned at him.

"Commence at once!" ordered Master Greevil. With that, the technicians quickly threw switches and pressed buttons on their control panels.

"Everything must be done quickly, yet precisely. If our target moves too much now, we will have to start over," said Dr. Newman as one of the holding capsules started glowing with a bright, white light.

"Looks like we won't have any failures with the first test," laughed Cecil.

"By the way, what Pokémon are you capturing right now?" asked Master Greevil with curiosity.

"Just wait a few seconds," replied Dr. Newman as the bright light in the capsule turned into a blinding flash. The light quickly dimmed down to reveal the figure of a Lugia, the legendary psychic bird. Master Greevil and Cecil were stunned. They looked on as the Lugia tried furiously to break out of the capsule.

"When you said you had a surprise for me, I had no idea that this was what you had in mind!" laughed Cecil.

"Splendid! With this machine, Cipher will be unstoppable!" said Master Greevil triumphantly as the Lugia started charging up its power. A small orb of light started growing in its mouth.

"What is it doing now?" asked Cecil with concern.

"If my observations are correct, Aero Blast," said Dr. Newman. Master Greevil and Cecil watched carefully as the Lugia unleashed its furry with an Aero Blast, only to watch the beam ricochet off the walls and back into the Lugia. Lugia screeched in pain then flopped to the floor of the capsule. Everyone in the room could not believe what they were seeing, except for Dr. Newman.

"Sorry about that…" said Dr. Newman softly to Lugia. Dr. Newman had indeed built Project Epsilon, but he was unsure if Cipher or anyone should have such a machine at their disposal. He was becoming increasingly doubtful about the capture cannons as well. As he gazed at Lugia he almost wished that he could press a few buttons and teleport the Lugia back to its home.

"We confirm the target's teleportation," said a voice over a radio. It was the field team.

"Return to base at once. That is all," ordered Dr. Newman.

"Yes, sir!" was the reply as the radio connection turned off.

"So," said Master Greevil as he stared at Lugia, "As long as we have a field team tracking a Pokémon, we can teleport it here for immediate capture?"

"That's correct. We could even steal powerful Pokémon from trainers. They wouldn't know what hit them!" said Cecil with delight. Dr. Newman examined Lugia more closely and soon discovered a silver collar around its neck.

"Speaking of trainers, what do you suppose this collar is all about? Do you suppose it belonged to another trainer at one time?" asked Dr. Newman.

"Doesn't matter," said Master Greevil, "All that matters is that Project Epsilon is a complete success and that this Lugia now belongs to me. Dr. Newman, I want you to analyze this Lugia as soon as possible. I want to know if it will be compatible with project XD001. Lugia is one of the few species we have left that has not been tested."

"I'll begin at once," replied Dr. Newman reluctantly. Dr. Newman knew that his treacherous brother was on the research team for XD001 and could only imagine the horrors he was concocting.

"Further more, I want all evidence of the Mt. Terror facility destroyed," ordered Master Greevil.

"Already done. I had a team take care of that last week," answered Cecil.

"Good. Cecil, in light of your recent progress, I forgive your most recent failures; however, if you mess up again, I'll have you demoted back to a foot soldier, is that clear?" warned Master Greevil sternly.

"I understand," said Cecil with a salute.

"Of course," said Master Greevil as he started to leave the room, "I can understand it if something comes your way that you can't handle. You should not have been toying around with the Guardian of Gardev. Hopefully, there won't be any further reprisals from her. If she comes back, capture her. If you can't do that, kill her at once." Dr. Newman gasped at Master Greevil's last command as he left the room. The steel door closed behind Master Greevil with a loud metallic crash.

"Surely Master Greevil doesn't think we should use lethal force on a Pokémon?!" shouted Dr. Newman with anger.

"He meant every word of it," said Cecil calmly as he started to leave the room as well, "I'll have to issue high-powered rifles to all the guards. Your brother managed to provide us with 100 of his new weapons. Supposedly, these new rifles fire high-velocity bullets that can go right through the barriers that some Pokémon can generate. This includes psychic barriers. Then, the bullet tears a large hole through the target."

"You sound like you're enjoying his command," snarled Dr. Newman.

"Of course I'm eager. I'm looking forward to getting vengeance on that Gardevoir once and for all," said Cecil as he left the room. Dr. Newman stood alone in the room, stunned at what he had just heard. Dr. Newman was about ready to leave Cipher for good, but if he left at a bad time, he would surely be captured. Dr. Newman certainly could not go to the police. It was over 100 miles to the nearest police station and taking a helicopter to the nearest town was suicide as long as the thunderstorms surrounded the mountains. That and he feared what Cipher would do to him if he told the police about Cipher and what they were planning. After all, if they could kill a Pokémon with out regret, surely they would think nothing of murdering Dr. Newman. He glanced at one of his Alakazams. It told Dr. Newman to be patient. Dr. Newman then laughed at what he heard next. The Guardian of Gardev and an alien warrior would be his only chance of escape.

**-30-**

Mack awoke once again with his vision blurred and his senses scrambled. He sat up and tried to focus his vision. As his vision started to return to normal, he hoped that everything that had happened in the last few days had just been a nightmare. Either that or he would wake up to find that he and Aura had been separated. Moments later, his vision cleared and he looked down at himself. He still had the green hands and the white gown of a Gardevoir.

"So much for that wish coming true…" thought Mack with a sigh as he slowly climbed out of bed. Much to his surprise, the room didn't look anything like Aura's room. If this really was Aura's room, someone had spent a fortune on remodeling. The walls were all pure marble, as well as the bed frame. Mack quickly ran to a nearby window and looked around. Wherever he was, he was now in some sort of small city. The city all seemed to be made of marble and gold. Mack jumped back and ended up hitting his head off a tall dresser. Suddenly, Mack started getting computer readings of his immediate area. Centuries ago, Mack had Central and K-1 implant a small super computer into his head. Though it was only about the size of a six-sided die, it could provide him with information concerning his current location, altitude and even display maps of the surrounding areas through his field of vision. It also provided Mack with information on the status of his health. At least the small computer was working now, but most of the functions didn't seem to be operational except for the maps. He was somewhere roughly 90 miles south of Gardev, but he could not find this city on any of his maps. He heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" asked Mack nervously as he focused his senses. He could sense a Gardevoir, a Kirlia and a Ralts on the other side of the door.

"It's me," said a familiar voice, "Ramirez."

"Can we come in too?" asked another familiar voice.

"Not this time, Anna," said Ramirez, "Why don't you and Fredrick go play outside for now?"

"Okay…" sighed Anna the Kirlia.

"Come on, Anna! Let's have some fun!" said Fredrick happily as he thundered down some stairs with Anna right behind him. Ramirez slowly opened the door. Mack sat back down on the bed.

"You've been asleep for two weeks. I was afraid that you would never wake up," said Ramirez. Mack tried to distance himself from Ramirez.

"What's wrong Aura? Don't you remember me? I'm Ramirez, your younger brother," said a bewildered Ramirez. Ramirez looked over his sister a few times. Mack gulped.

"I think you should see the elders now, especially since you figured out how to use the pendant. Apparently, none of the last six Guardians of Gardev were able to use its power," said Ramirez. Mack stood back up and tried to speak. He wanted to explain what was going on, but was too scared, which was also quite unusual for Mack. Very few things really frightened him anymore. Ramirez held Mack's left hand.

"I know you aren't exactly my sister, Aura, and I don't know what happened between you and her, but you don't have to be afraid," said Ramirez calmly.

"Thanks," said Mack as he wiped some sweat off his brow.

"Besides, considering your deeds, I believe that you only want to do what's right. After all, you risked your life twice trying to rescue the Pokémon that Cipher had captured. Plus, you saved my siblings from another one of their little adventures," explained Ramirez with a laugh, "At any rate, we better go see the elders. They need to know about the turn of events." Mack and Ramirez left the room and walked downstairs. Mack could tell that the Gardevoir in this place lived very well. Soon, a blue sapphire pendant in a glass case caught his eyes.

"What's this?" Mack asked himself as he took a closer look. The sapphire pendant was an exact match to the ruby pendant around his neck.

"Ah. This pendant is meant to be a present to whoever Aura chooses to be her mate," explained Ramirez, "The red pendant is meant for a female while the blue pendant is meant for a male Gardevoir. I'm still glad that Aura is alive, somehow. I'm not ready to wear the blue pendant and be the next Guardian of Gardev."

"Where are your mother and father?" asked Mack with curiosity.

"They disappeared a few years ago in the forests that surround Gardev. All we found were their pendants. Whatever happened, they were probably killed," said Ramirez with grief in his voice, "At least you've managed to protect Aura, though no one would have ever expected something like this to happen." Mack took one last glance at the sapphire pendant then left the room with Ramirez. Soon, they were walking down the street. Mack looked back and forth as his computer started making maps of the area. Everywhere he looked, there were Gardevoir, Kirlia and Ralts.

"Have I come across some sort of paradise for Gardevoir, Kirlia and Ralts?" thought Mack.

"You could say that," said Ramirez. The other Pokémon seemed to sense something and stared at Mack as he walked by.

"What's with them?" asked Mack.

"They know that there's something different about you. There hasn't been an outsider in this city for nearly a thousand years," answered Ramirez. Within minutes, Mack and Ramirez arrived at what looked like a palace made entirely out of white marble. They walked through the front gate, through the gigantic front door and down the cavernous main hallway. Soon, they arrived in a large room. In the room, right in front of Mack, sat seven Gardevoir in chairs of gold behind fine wooden desks with gold trim.

"I'll wait outside. Don't worry," reassured Ramirez as he left the room. Mack looked back and forth at the Gardevoir in front of him. The Gardevoir glanced back and looked over Mack carefully. Minutes later, the Gardevoir in the center slowly stood up.

"You are Dr. Mack Foxx. A traveler and warrior from another world, correct?" asked the standing Gardevoir.

"Yes. You know my name, but what is yours?" asked Mack.

"I am Glacian, head of the elders and ruler of this city," said Glacian, "You don't need to fear us. Just tell us what exactly happened with you and Aura." Mack then told the story of how he had tried to rescue Aura from Cipher on Mt. Terror, but then got fused with her after a teleportation accident. Mack then also told them how he came back to protect Gardev and had managed to rescue Aura's siblings as well as the Pokémon that Cipher had stolen from the people of Gardev. Mack also mentioned how the ruby pendant had glowed brightly right before he had managed to break free of one of Cipher's capture cannons. He then told them about a suit of armor that he normally used for protection and for devastating power in combat. Mack explained how the suit of armor had probably been stolen by Cipher from the remnants of their base at Mt. Terror.

"Incredible," remarked Glacian, "A traveling bounty hunter gets fused with the Guardian of Gardev and then protects the town."

"Money is the least of my concerns right now," said Mack. Glacian started conversing with the rest of the elders. Minutes later, they fell silent and Glacian faced Mack again.

"So, what are your intentions now?" asked Glacian.

"I intend to protect Gardev until I find a way to safely separate me and Aura," declared Mack.

"Most admirable, Dr. Foxx, though, you do realize that we can't give you anything in return, don't you?" asked Glacian.

"I don't need a reward," replied Mack. Glacian paused and glanced at the other elders. They nodded in agreement to some unsaid question.

"Perhaps I should explain a few things to you. After all, you are the first outsider to enter this city in nearly a millennium. Tell me, do you know why a Gardevoir has protected Gardev for so long?" asked Glacian.

"I don't know," answered Mack.

"Then let me explain. I think I owe you that in the least for your services to Gardev so far," said Glacian, "You see, one thousand years ago, a ancestor of the current mayor of Gardev, founded the village, nestled in one of the most beautiful and fertile valleys in these mountains."

"Ah. An old member of Warren's family," remarked Mack.

"Indeed," said Glacian, "Anyway, that winter, during a brutal blizzard, the village founder was trapped in the storm. Fortunately, he was able to figure out where he was and then started back towards his home. Along the way, he found a Gardevoir lying in the snow, barely alive. Her name was also Aura. He carried Aura all the way back to the village despite the cruel weather. Days later, Aura awoke to find that this man had saved her from certain death. Ancestors of this city had also been looking for her and were surprised to see a human taking such good care of one of our own. Other humans at the time hunted us down as well as other Pokémon for our powers. It was a dark age for Pokémon. Pokémon were captured and forced to become weapons of war. One notorious samurai army was hunting for the legendary Gardevoir city, where they would hope to capture everyone here. A large army of Ralts, Kirlia and Gardevoir would have been unstoppable. Anyway, while Aura was resting, the founder of the village did some exploring of the mountains. For weeks he continued onward through the glaciers. One day, the weather turned foul once again and a gust of wind blew the man into a glacier fissure. He blacked out during his fall and expected that he would die. Instead, he woke up here, in this city. Another Gardevoir had saved him. This Gardevoir had witnessed his acts, especially how he saved Aura from freezing to death. He was brought before the elders of that time and he promised to never tell anyone about this city. The elders believed him and he was sent off the next day with fresh supplies and another Gardevoir to guide him home. A week later, he could see his home village in the snowy valleys. When he was just miles away from the village, he heard a loud roar. Looking up towards the peaks, he saw a giant avalanche thundering down the mountainside, heading straight for the village. Just when he thought that his village would be utterly destroyed, he saw a bright light from his home. The light flew into the air. The man watched with awe as the avalanche became covered in a blue aura and was then split in half. The avalanche continued on, leaving the village intact. He ran back to the village and found Aura waiting for him. The village was grateful and asked if Aura would stay. She agreed. The man then named the village Gardev, in honor of Aura and the other Gardevoir who had saved the village and himself. He also gave to Aura two pendants, a ruby and a sapphire pendant: his family's treasure. Legend said that the pendants could make Pokémon more powerful. As soon as Aura put on the pendant, it glowed brightly. She then asked what she should do with the sapphire pendant. The man said that she could give it to anyone she wanted. She immediately ran up and put it around the neck of the Gardevoir who had been the man's guide on his way back to Gardev. The two of them were married that night. Months later, the two Gardevoir and the man would stop an entire army of samurais. The man had been watching them carefully for days as they drew ever closer to our city. No one here knew they were coming. The man and Aura came up with a plan to rid this place of the samurai. The man ran to the camp, yelling and screaming about demons. The samurai leader was about to have him killed, when ghostly apparitions of dragons and other horrible creatures seemed to fill the air. The samurai quickly packed up their camp and started running. They didn't stay in the same place for long. You see, with the power of the pendants, Aura and her mate used their amplified powers of telepathy to make the samurai see those demons and monsters. Aura, her mate and the man followed them closely until they had chased them out of the mountain range. Aura then teleported herself, her mate and the man back to Gardev. Back at this city, we all realized just how close we were to disaster. If the samurai had continued on their course, they would have come across this city within a matter of days. We did not have guards or an army. With a surprise attack we probably would have all been captured and would have been forced to become soldiers in their army. The elders were quite aware of the frequent disasters that plagued the valley that Gardev was set in: floods, avalanches and wild fires. As way to thank the man, the elders asked that Aura and her mate protect Gardev from the natural disasters that occurred often in the valley. They agreed. Since then, a Gardevoir has protected Gardev and, when the time came, the Guardian would choose a mate to carry on the blood line through the years. The guardian seeking a mate would always give the proper pendant to their mate of choice. The blue sapphire pendant is for a male and the red ruby pendant is for a female. Years have passed since then. Some of the guardians gave their very lives to protect the village as it grew over time. After 6 centuries, though, the pendants seemed to loose their power. The last eight guardian couples could not use the pendants' power at all. One of those couples…well…" Glacian hesitated.

"They disappeared? Were they Aura's parents?" asked Mack.

"Yes," answered Glacian, "Two years ago they were exploring the forests around Gardev and disappeared. Only the pendants were found. No one has seen them since."

"Most perplexing," said Mack, "I've been living near the valley for years. Maybe I'll be able to find some clues to their disappearance."

"If you want to, go ahead, but remember that Gardev comes first. You may go now," said Glacian, "I'll have Ramirez get you back to Gardev for now."

"Thank you. I won't let you down!" said Mack as he started to leave.

"One moment," said Glacian. Mack turned back around to face him.

"Yes?" asked Mack.

"Please give my dear friend Warren my regards," said Glacian.

"Certainly," said Mack as he was about walk out of the room.

"I have one more thing to say, if you don't mind," said Glacian.

"Okay. What is it?" asked Mack.

"You know…it's almost time for Aura to choose a mate," said Glacian with hesitation.

"Perhaps, but what do you mean?" asked Mack.

"Well, I think it's a pity that you aren't really a Gardevoir. You and Aura would be perfect for each other," said Glacian with a bit of embarrassment. Minutes later, Mack walked out of the palace with a stunned look on his face.

"Is something wrong?" asked Ramirez.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Would you please take me back to Gardev, Ramirez?" asked Mack.

"Of course, Dr. Foxx," answered Ramirez.

"Who told you my name?" asked Mack with confusion.

"I already knew. Besides, I think you've had enough unwelcome surprises for now," said Ramirez with a chuckle, "Please take good care of my sister." The two Gardevoir soon vanished in a flash of white light.


	9. Section 9

**-31-**

K-1 and William jumped back and screamed as Mack and Ramirez suddenly teleported into the room in a blinding flash of light.

"Must you do that?!" yelled K-1 in fury.

"Yeah! Do you HAVE to scare the heck out of us?!" thundered William.

"Are these your pets?" asked Ramirez as he pointed at K-1 and William.

"Not quite. That Pikachu, named William, is a pet. While that robot, named K-1, is my best friend. He's been traveling with me for…a long time," explained Mack.

"I see," said Ramirez, "Well, I won't keep you from your duties. Farewell, Mack." With that, Ramirez disappeared within a bright flash. K-1 and William were bewildered.

"Perhaps you care to explain where you've been for the last few weeks?" asked an irritated K-1. Mack then explained how he had rescued the Pokémon from Cipher, but had almost been captured. Mack then told them of a hidden city of Gardevoir where he had learned more about Aura and the reason why a Gardevoir had been watching over Gardev for so long.

"I see, but what are we going to do now? Central called me a few days ago and reported that she had picked up some powerful energy readings from that Cipher base you were at. Central said that someone in Cipher must have developed a teleportation device of some sort. At least that is what she could tell from the energy signatures," explained K-1 as he walked back over to the melted capture claw.

"Someone not only managed to copy the capture claw, but now we have someone who managed to reverse engineer the teleportation systems of the S-100? Who are we dealing with here?" asked Mack.

"Whoever they are, they must have copied your energy shielding technologies as well. Central detected the same energy signatures that your shield generators on the S-100 give off," said K-1.

"Okay," said Mack as he started pacing, "And what of this copied capture claw?"

"Whoever built this thing did not know what all the circuits and parts do. They copied everything down to the remote self-destruct systems that melt and fuse the delicate parts to prevent anyone from copying the technology should it be captured," said K-1.

"How about the remote tracking systems?" asked Mack.

"They copied that too, but it's no longer functioning now. When you shot this thing off that foot soldier, you damaged the tracking systems. From what I can tell, they are using the tracking systems on their other capture claws. Why when those soldiers came into Gardev to steal Pokémon, Central picked up the tracking signals from several capture claws. I would have contacted you, but you didn't bother to take a radio with you," said K-1, "The tracking signals from the other capture claws point directly to that base, so they must have other computers that are tracking the capture claws to keep a close eye on them."

"Could you try tapping into their signal and activate the self-destruct systems that way?" asked Mack.

"I already tried that. The signals are heavily encrypted and they keep changing their codes. By the time I figured out how to de-encrypt one code set, they had already gone through two others," said K-1 with frustration.

"So, the only way to destroy all the copies of my capture claw would be to go into the base and activate the self-destruct systems from one of their terminals," said Mack with enthusiasm.

"I don't think it would be wise to risk a full frontal assault. There is no telling what kind of…'precautions'…Cipher might have taken just incase you return to their base," said K-1 with concern.

"Ah. I certainly don't want to blindly run into a trap," said Mack as a nearby radio started beeping.

"I brought a radio with me, just in case," remarked K-1 as he answered the call, "Hello?"

"This is Central. I have finally located the S-100," reported Central through the radio.

"Excellent! Where is it?" asked K-1 with enthusiasm.

"Locked in a vault in a base just a few miles west of your location," said Central.

"Wonderful…we're going to have to get it back as soon as possible! What if they managed to copy the jamming array or the FIW-59 Type C Elemental Cannons?!" shouted Mack with fear. The FIW-59C was a smaller version of the FIW-59A that Mack usually carried as a sidearm. The FIW-59's could fire concentrated beams of energy of virtually any element. There was a hidden feature in the FIW-59's that also would mix all the elements at once, creating a field of extremely destructive energy. The S-100 itself could barely stand a direct hit from this kind of weapon.

"Um…so what would happen if they copied your elemental cannons anyway?" a confused William.

"They would have the power to level cities with the push of a button. I haven't had to use the full destructive power of those cannons for nearly a century, though. The last few worlds I've visited, including this one, have been quite peaceful compared to others," explained Mack as he held the pendant in his hands and stared into the jewel. Suddenly, Ramirez teleported into the room and scared K-1 and William out of their wits.

"Not again…" growled K-1 as he got back on his feet.

"I can't take much more of this…" grumbled William as he slowly emerged from a dresser drawer. Mack could sense that something was wrong.

"What's the problem, Ramirez?" asked Mack.

"It's Fredrick and Anna. They seem to have disappeared again…" said Ramirez with a scowl.

"They went on another 'Adventure,' didn't they?" asked Mack.

"Probably," answered Ramirez with a sigh. Mack stood up and grabbed his satchel from the desk.

"K-1, William, you two stay here," ordered Mack.

"Affirmative, Mack," replied K-1.

"If I have to," muttered William with disappointment.

"Let's go," said Mack as he and Ramirez ran out the bedroom door, through the hallways, almost through Warren and finally out the front door.

"How come Mack won't take me with him?" asked an irritated William.

"Don't feel bad. Mack rarely lets me go into the field, too. It's mostly because he doesn't want me to get damaged or destroyed. After all, I'm the only one who has stuck with Mack for his entire journey," explained K-1.

"How long has he been traveling to different worlds, then?" asked William with curiosity.

"I'm afraid that information is classified," said K-1 with a smirk.

**-32-**

Anna, Fredrick, Li and Sakura the Kirlia were walking through the woods. It seemed like a nice day. The sun was out; the Pidgeys, Tailow and Spearow were singing…or squawking. The forest seemed to be completely peaceful.

"I was hoping you two would come visit us again soon," said Sakura with a smile.

"Yeah, well, it gets boring at my home, and my big brother never lets us venture out much," said Anna with a frown.

"Speaking of which, Ramirez will probably have our heads for venturing out without him again," warned Fredrick.

"Let's just get this over with so we can get back and have a snack," muttered Li. He was hoping he could snag some of Makoto's cookies while no one was looking. Suddenly, they started hearing some strange humming, coming from somewhere deeper in the forest.

"What's that?" asked Anna.

"Sounds like some sort of monster!" chuckled Li as Sakura quaked with fear.

"Don't scare me, Li!" exclaimed Sakura as she threatened to pound Li into the ground with a Thunder Punch.

"Strange," remarked Fredrick, "That sounds more like some sort of machine."

"Let's check it out!" said Anna with excitement as she blindly ran off deeper into the woods.

"I guess we'd better go after her," said Fredrick with a sigh as he, Li and Sakura frantically ran after Anna.

"Anna! Come back here!" shouted Sakura.

"We don't know what's out there!" yelled Li. Anna suddenly came to a stop. The others soon caught up with her. They could not figure out why Anna was looking up towards the sky. They also looked upwards and to their shock, saw several steel towers looming over them.

"How long has this been here?" asked Sakura as Li took a closer look.

"Looks like some sort of military base, but I never heard of the army having a place like this so close to Gardev," said Li with amazement.

"Bah! It's just some stupid base where those idiots from Cipher live," said Anna smugly.

"I didn't think we run into this place again so soon," said Fredrick as he cautiously glanced left and right, "I really don't want to get captured again…not by these twerps."

"They won't catch us," said Anna with a grin, "They'll never see us if we go through our 'Secret' entrance."

"Not again…" grumbled Fredrick, "Didn't we get caught last time because you were trying to get at a fresh bag of chips that some loony had thrown into a dumpster?"

"We won't get caught! If we do get busted, it won't be because of me, so nyah!" said Anna with an attitude.

"Sure we won't…" muttered Fredrick to himself. Anna led them around to the back of the complex. Somehow, the guards didn't even notice them.

"Are they blind or something?" asked Li with surprise.

"Maybe it's because of my treasure!" said Anna with a smile. Sakura, Li and Fredrick suddenly noticed that Anna was holding a small, black box in her hands.

"What on earth is that thing?" asked Fredrick.

"This?" answered Anna as she held the small device higher into the air, "Oh! I found this under Aura's bed in a suitcase back in Gardev. I don't know what it is, but whenever I press this small green button, no one can see me! Best of all, if I play with these gray knobs a bit, I can make other stuff invisible too, like you guys!"

"That explains a lot," said Fredrick.

"Yeah, like what happened to Makoto's first batch of peanut butter cookies," said Li.

"How did you know about that?!" asked Anna with surprise.

"You just told us," said Sakura with soft laughter.

"Whatever," said Anna as she moved a piece of sheet metal on the wall to reveal a large hole.

"How did this get here?" asked Sakura as she gazed the hole in the 10 foot thick concrete wall.

"Simple," explained Anna, "I had Fredrick blast a hole in it about a month ago."

"I thought we were going to die…" grumbled Fredrick, "Those guards came right after us. If Ramirez had not shown up, we would have been captured for sure."

"But this time they can't see us!" snapped Anna.

"Aura won't like this. You stole one of her things!" said Fredrick with a scowl.

"Please…this little machine can't be Aura's. What would she want with something like this anyway?" asked Anna as she and the rest of the group started climbing through the hole in the massive wall.

"I guess it can't be Aura's," said Fredrick, "But who else could it belong to?"

"Maybe it belongs to that metal fox that came into town a few weeks ago," suggested Sakura.

"Could be," said Li with agreement, "No one has seen that guy for weeks now. Apparently, he went to Mt. Terror to go after those robbers. I hope he's alright." Soon, Anna led them to an access panel on the side of the largest building in the complex. After removing the panel, she and the rest of the group climbed through the ventilation shafts.

"Where are we going anyway?" asked Sakura.

"I wanted to thank that strange man for letting us escape," said Anna as she climbed through the shaft.

"What strange man?" asked Fredrick as Anna stopped while over a vent.

"That one!" said Anna with glee as she pointed at a man in a lab coat.

"Who is that?" asked Fredrick.

"That's Dr. Newman…" said Sakura softly as she glowed faintly with a blue aura, "He seems like a very nice person. One of the few in this place…"

"Reading his mind, eh? Good call," said Li as he looked around in the room. Soon, a strange sight caught his eye. There in a giant glass tube of some sort, there was a Lugia with a silver collar, lying at the bottom of the tube.

"How did he get here?" asked Li with surprise.

"Beats me," replied Fredrick, "I thought that Lugia lived under the sea. What is one doing way out here, over a thousand miles from the nearest ocean?" They soon heard another strange sound. It sounded like some metal was under too much strain and was starting to bend. They all realized to their horror that the vent they were standing on was about to break. Before they could react, the panel flew out from under them and they went crashing into the floor. Dr. Newman jumped back and was about to activate the alarms.

"Wait!" said Anna as she grabbed Dr. Newman's left leg. He stopped in his tracks and looked down.

"Did you just say something?" asked a perplexed Dr. Newman.

"Thank you for helping us," said Anna politely as she offered a curtsey.

"Huh?!" said a shocked Dr. Newman.

"Really! If you had thrown the alarms while we were trying to escape, we probably would not have made it out of here," explained Anna.

"So NOW Anna is all polite and friendly," thought Fredrick. Dr. Newman was stunned. He staggered back to his desk and sat down.

"You were the Kirlia that was caught behind a dumpster, weren't you?" asked Dr. Newman.

"Yes," replied Anna.

"Don't remind me…" said Fredrick out loud.

"Ah! You were with her, too, eh?" said Dr. Newman with a chuckle, "I'm glad you two were able to escape. If you hadn't, there was nothing I could have to done to stop Cecil from having you both turned into shadow Pokémon."

"What's a shadow Pokémon?" asked Anna. Sakura and Li knew all too well what shadow Pokémon were.

"Oh, dear…" said Dr. Newman. He soon recognized the Mawile and the other Kirlia in the room.

"What's wrong?" asked Anna as she faced Sakura and Li. They were cowering in a corner.

"You must have been with the Pokémon that were stolen from Gardev," said Dr. Newman, "I hope you can forgive me. There was nothing I could do to stop them." They stayed in the corner, shaking with fear.

"Well? What is a shadow Pokémon?!" demanded Anna. Dr. Newman regained his composure.

"A shadow Pokémon is a Pokémon who has had its heart closed off. Shadow Pokémon don't feel anything and are pretty much just mindless fighting machines. They have no emotions and just follow orders. They will even attack humans if ordered to do so by their trainers," explained Dr. Newman as he glanced at Sakura and Li, "From what I can gather, the process is also extremely painful." Dr. Newman slowly walked up to Sakura and Li, knelt down on his knees and then he gently stroked them on their heads.

"I told you he was a good man," said Sakura as she smiled and closed her eyes.

"I don't know why I'm not going to turn you guys in or why I'm going to tell you this," said Dr. Newman as he stood back up, "I'm not really sure why, but I don't think I belong here as a part of Cipher."

"You're nothing like your brother," said Fredrick.

"How do you know about my brother?!" asked a surprised Dr. Newman.

"I've seen him walking around outside this place before," answered Fredrick, "I didn't like what I sensed about him."

"There are a lot of rumors about him," said Dr. Newman with dread, "He's a lot like me, but uncaring, cold, devious and sometimes I think he's just evil. He almost makes Cecil look as harmless as a Jigglypuff."

"I think we'd better run along now," said Li as Sakura lifted them all back into the ventilation shaft using telekinesis.

"Farewell," said Dr. Newman. Soon, the group of Pokémon was crawling back to the exit of the ventilation shafts, leaving Dr. Newman alone. A radio suddenly crackled to life.

"Dr. Newman? Cecil? Is anyone there?" asked the voice. Dr. Newman picked up the radio.

"This is Dr. Newman. What's going on?" asked Dr. Newman.

"This is field team bravo. We've located the next target," said the voice.

"Next target?" asked a puzzled Dr. Newman.

"You haven't heard? Cecil sent us out here to track down a Mew. I assume the technicians are ready to teleport it into the holding chamber?" asked the voice. Dr. Newman knew nothing of this. Cecil had never mentioned to him that a field team had been deployed to search for a Mew. Dr. Newman's fear rose even more. He could barely imagine what would happen if Cipher had a shadow Mew. Cipher would be virtually unstoppable. Cecil suddenly ran into the room.

"I see the field team already has results! Brilliant!" shouted Cecil triumphantly.

"Why was I not notified about this?" demanded Dr. Newman.

"Because I was pretty sure that you would object," answered Cecil.

"Indeed," grumbled Dr. Newman.

"I hope you know where your loyalties are," warned Cecil, "You seem to be far too squeamish. It's a pity that you aren't more like your brother, Dr…"

"Don't say that…and do NOT mention my brother's 'Name' in my presence!" growled Dr. Newman with clenched fists.

"Dr. Newman, are you there?" asked the trooper through the radio.

"What is it?" said Dr. Newman as he started to regain his composure.

"I don't know what the problem is, but the computers in our visors say that the DNA signature of the target is a near-match. What does that mean?" asked the trooper.

"A near-match? Impossible! It would have to be a mutant or something," said a perplexed Dr. Newman.

"Shall we proceed anyway?" asked the trooper.

"Proceed," commanded Cecil as he ordered all the technicians to enter the room and get to their stations. Lugia awoke from all the noise and soon figured out what was up. Lugia could only imagine who the next unfortunate soul was going to be teleported into this prison.

"Everything is set," said one of the technicians.

"We have a lock on the target," said the trooper.

"Begin!" ordered Cecil. With that, the technicians started pressing buttons and throwing switches furiously. A white light soon started forming in another capsule.

"Shields are at full charge," said another technician as the light got brighter. Dr. Newman walked up to a control console and then threw the master switch. With a bright flash and a loud boom, the Pokémon was teleported from its home into the holding capsule at the base. The light subsided. Everyone in the room gasped at what they saw.

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded the Pokémon through telepathy.

"What on earth is that?" asked a shocked Cecil. Dr. Newman barely recognized the Pokémon that now stood before them.

"I think I might have a lead," said Dr. Newman as he sat down to a computer and feverishly started looking through files and other data. Finally, something of interest came up on the screen.

"Oh, dear…" stammered Dr. Newman as he let his glasses fall to the ground.

"What is it?" asked Cecil as he ran to Dr. Newman's side and stared at the screen, "Where did these records come from?"

"These must have been recovered from the headquarters of Team Rocket after the building was destroyed roughly…7 years ago!" said Dr. Newman with amazement.

"But what is this THING?!" demanded Cecil as he pointed at the strange Pokémon.

"Species number one hundred and fifty. Name: Mewtwo," said Dr. Newman as he read through the records, "A genetically altered clone created from a Mew fossil. Mewtwo is supposedly more powerful than Mew." Dr. Newman continued reading through the information.

"Incredible…" said Cecil as he closely eyed Mewtwo. Mewtwo glared back.

"According to this, Mewtwo completely destroyed Team Rocket headquarters in a matter of minutes. Considering these old blue prints, that Team Rocket facility was monstrous and he completely leveled it. Not just that, but Mewtwo was believed to have annihilated the scientists who created him and also destroyed the lab where he was…'Born' roughly 8 years ago," said Dr. Newman as he fearfully read the records.

"A major powerhouse and its mine," said Cecil with glee.

"I belong to no one," snapped Mewtwo.

"That's what you think. Once I'm through with you, you'll be obeying my every command," said Cecil.

"You won't succeed. I already know that you are going to fail miserably. I don't know how, but you will pay dearly for this mistake," said Mewtwo.

"Ha! We'll see about that, my little pet!" snapped Cecil as he shook his left fist at Mewtwo.

"If you had done this to me years ago, I would have destroyed you and everyone here without hesitation," said Mewtwo as his eyes glowed a bright red, "But someone, taught me something important years ago."

"And what was that?" demanded Cecil.

"I don't need to explain myself to a fool like you," scoffed Mewtwo. Cecil stomped out of the room with anger.

"Just wait…" grumbled Cecil as he left the room. The other technicians soon left as well.

"You have this situation under control, right, Dr. Newman?" asked a technician as he walked out of the room.

"He can't get out. Don't worry," replied Dr. Newman. After everyone had left, Mewtwo turned his gaze towards Dr. Newman.

"I know what he's planning, but it will never see the light of day," said Mewtwo as he calmly sat down.

"What makes you think you can escape? Why, I would let you and Lugia loose if I wasn't going to get in trouble, but still. There is no way out of those capsules except by being turned into a shadow Pokémon or by someone cracking the access code," explained Dr. Newman with some sadness in his voice.

"You've heard the stories about this place, have you not?" asked Mewtwo.

"Yes," answered Dr. Newman.

"I've heard a lot about these mountains and about Gardev from other Pokémon that I've come across over the years. Besides, your Alakazam already know at least who is going to stop him," explained Mewtwo calmly.

"They told you?" asked Dr. Newman as he Mewtwo nodded his head. Dr. Newman's Alakazam nodded at Mewtwo and stood behind their trainer.

"Yes. The Guardian of Gardev and an alien warrior are going to put a stop to this and they will deliver you to safety," said Mewtwo, "The image of the alien warrior intrigues me, though. I think I've seen him somewhere before…many years ago." Dr. Newman sat back down at a computer terminal and closely examined the records, trying to figure out who had found them. He gasped at the name he found: it was his brother who had discovered these records, Dr. Alvin Namwen.


	10. Section 10

**-33-**

Mack was pacing back and forth in Aura's room with the pendant in his right hand, staring into the glowing ruby. He and Ramirez had not been able to find Anna, Fredrick, Sakura or Li.

"Mack! We have an alert from Central!" said K-1 with alarm.

"What is it?" asked Mack with concern as he quickly turned around to face K-1.

"Central detected another massive energy spike emanating from Cipher's facility just minutes ago. She can't quite make out what exactly it is, but the energy signature looks something like that of your teleporters, Mack," explained K-1.

"Another one, eh?" asked Mack as he heard some soft footsteps outside his door. Moments later, there was a knock at the door.

"Can we come in, Aura?" asked a familiar voice. Mack glanced back and forth, making sure that he didn't have anything suspicious out in the open.

"Come on in, Anna," answered Mack softly. The door opened and Mack heard footsteps, but he didn't see anyone.

"What on earth is going on?" asked a bewildered K-1.

"Can't you see us, sis?" asked Fredrick. Mack had his suspicions and thrust his left hand forward. He grabbed onto a metal object that was invisible to the naked eye. He yanked the object from unseen hands and pressed a small, hidden switch on the device. Immediately, Sakura, Li, Anna and Fredrick appeared in the room.

"Just as I thought," said Mack with some laughter.

"Hey! That was my treasure!" complained Anna.

"It must have been Aura's to begin with since you found it under her bed," said Fredrick with dismay.

"It's okay. I'm just glad that you brought it back and that it isn't broken. You aren't in trouble," said Mack softly as he put the box back.

"You aren't angry that they stole one of your cloaking devices?" said K-1 with astonishment.

"What's a cloaking device?" asked Anna. Mack smiled.

"A cloaking device is a machine that makes people, Pokémon or other things invisible so no one can see them," explained Mack.

"What's this?" asked Anna. Mack gasped as he saw Anna take the FIW-37 Combo Rifle out from under Aura's bed.

"Put that down! That's dangerous!" shouted Mack as he quickly snatched the weapon away. Sakura, Li and Fredrick were stunned.

"What would you need a gun for?" asked Fredrick.

"Aura? What's with you?" asked Sakura. Li looked on the desk and noticed the damaged capture cannon.

"What's that doing here?!" exclaimed Li. Sakura jumped behind Li for protection.

"Who are you?!" demanded Sakura with fear in her voice, "Aura would never want to be anywhere near these terrible machines!" Mack knew he could no longer keep his secret from Aura's friends and other siblings.

"I should have told you all about this sooner," said Mack as he sat down, "You can relax. I'm not going to hurt you guys, besides, I've saved all of you from Cipher once already."

"Good point," said Sakura as she calmed down.

"The truth is, my name is Dr. Mack Foxx," said Mack as he hung his head in shame, "I was the metal warrior who ran to Mt. Terror to rescue Aura and recover some valuable documents that had been stolen from Warren here in Gardev."

"I didn't know you were a Gardevoir just like Aura!" said Sakura with a smile on her face.

"I'm not really a Gardevoir…" said an irritated Mack.

"But what happened to my sister?" asked Anna with some sadness in her voice.

"You see, I managed to rescue Aura, but I soon got trapped in the base at Mt. Terror. Just as it seemed like all was lost for me, Aura grabbed my right hand and tried to teleport both of us to safety, despite how weak she was. However, the teleportation systems on my armor were badly damaged and when we teleported away, we were both fused into one body. On the outside, I look just like your sister, Aura, but inside, I have the mind of me, Dr. Foxx," explained Mack, "Though I seem to be able to see Aura's own memories from time to time."

"You could have told us. Maybe we could have helped you more," said Sakura.

"Yeah," said Li, "You've helped us and the people at Gardev quite a bit. We trust you."

"You've done pretty well for your first few weeks as the Guardian of Gardev," giggled Anna. Fredrick seemed worried.

"Surely you don't intend to stay bonded with my sister, do you?" asked Fredrick.

"Of course not. I want to find a way to safely split Aura and me apart. Though I enjoy Aura's power and the fact that she never gets tired like I do whenever I use my power, I can't stay like this," answered Mack.

"Cipher still needs to be dealt with, too," said Fredrick.

"I know. Considering what's been happening in the last few hours, I believe its high time I put an end to Cipher's presence in these mountains," said Mack sternly as he stood back up.

"Let us come with you!" said Sakura excitedly.

"Surely we can help you!" said Li.

"Cipher won't be able to stand up to all of us!" said Anna with glee.

"But how dangerous is this going to be?" asked Fredrick with caution.

"Indeed," said K-1, "Cipher's base is certainly no place for young Pokémon."

"I think you had better stay here," said Mack as he started to leave the room. Anna ran over and wrapped her arms around his right ankle.

"Please! Aura would let us come with her!" protested Anna.

"Really? Do you think Aura would want to take you some place where you could get badly hurt or killed? Or how about getting captured and turned into a shadow Pokémon?" asked Mack sternly.

"I guess not…" sobbed Anna, "Just, please…be careful, Mack…"

"I'll be fine," said Mack as Fredrick closed his eyes, "I will return." Mack closed the door behind him. Sakura, Li and Anna then heard Mack run down the hallways and out the front door of Warren's house. Fredrick sat silently, glowing with a soft blue aura around him.

"I'd better be off as well," said K-1 as he jumped out a nearby window and then started running for Mack's lab, deep in the forests. Fredrick sat silently as the other Pokémon stared at him. Suddenly, Fredrick stood up.

"We have to go with him!" shouted Fredrick. The rest were shocked at his decision.

"What?!" yelled a surprised Sakura.

"What's with that all of a sudden?" demanded Li.

"Mack is not going to be alright. We have to catch up to him, otherwise both him and Aura will die!" said Fredrick with alarm.

"How do you know this?" asked Anna with fear.

"I saw the future," said an uneasy Fredrick.

"Really? You've never been able to do that before," said Anna with amazement.

"What did you see?" asked Sakura.

"I saw Gardev. Everyone was gathered around the Gardevoir memorial statue in the middle of the town square. They were all grieving. Me, Anna and Ramirez were there too, but I couldn't see any other Pokémon. Not even Sakura or Li were there," said Fredrick, "But that's not all: Ramirez was wearing the blue sapphire pendant and crying. Next, I saw the little girl, Sakura, place flowers on the statue. Finally, I saw the engraved names on the statue. The names of Dr. Mack Foxx and Aura had been recently carved there!" said Fredrick with terror.

"That settles it! We're going after him!" said Sakura.

"We can sneak back into the base using my secret entrance," said Anna.

**-34-**

Moments earlier, Mack was running down the driveway of Warren's house when he found William asleep on the seat of the hovercycle. William was jolted awake.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" demanded William.

"I'm off to destroy that base of Cipher's," answered Mack.

"Take me with you, then!" said William as he jumped off the hovercycle and onto the ground.

"It's too dangerous!" said Mack.

"Look! I'm supposed to be your partner! I'm sure I'll be able to help you! You know I can handle myself!" protested William. Mack sighed then smiled at William.

"Okay my little friend, lets get going!" said Mack as he ran off towards the forest with William in hot pursuit. Minutes later, they were just a matter of yards from the front gate of the facility. Mack soon saw the guards and then dove behind some trees for cover. William jumped into his arms. Mack held William closely and carefully looked over the guards. He could barely hear two of them talking while they were sitting in one of the guard towers. For some reason, all the guards were carrying strange weapons.

"I still can't believe that Cecil ordered us to carry these guns around just in case the guardian comes back," said one guard.

"I know. I don't know if I could kill such a beautiful Pokémon just like that," said another guard.

"Apparently, these guns are capable of blasting through the barriers that some Pokémon can generate for protection. Why, the guardian is practically defenseless," said the first guard.

"I also heard that Dr. Newman's twisted brother created these weapons," said the other guard.

"Speaking of Dr. Newman, have you heard the latest rumor about him?" asked the first guard.

"What is it this time? Is this the one about how he's the clone of Einstein?" laughed the other guard as he grabbed a doughnut from a nearby box and started eating it.

"No, not quite," said the first guard, "You know how he never goes anywhere without his group of six Alakazams, right?"

"Of course!" snapped the other guards as candy sprinkles fell onto one of the control consoles in the tower, "I wouldn't go anywhere without my Pokémon either!"

"Well, apparently, he has a special purpose for his Pokémon," explained the first guard, "Not only are they his dear friends, but they are also his, well, his brain trust."

"What on earth do you mean by that?!" laughed the other guard as loud as he could.

"Anyway, Dr. Newman supposedly has the power of telepathy; therefore, he communicates mentally with his Alakazams and combines their immense intelligence with his own. This way, he is able to think thousands upon thousands of times faster than any normal human being," said the first guard.

"That would explain how he was able to build those capture cannons as well as Project Epsilon," said the other guards as he finished his doughnut.

"That's not all," said the first guard with a grin, "I also heard that the capture cannons and Project Epsilon were created from alien technology that was found in the remains of the Mt. Terror facility. He got the ideas while studying an alien suit of armor that had been brought up from there!"

"I think I've heard enough," grumbled the other guard as he put some Boston Cream doughnuts over his ears. Mack and William looked at each other.

"So, they have been ordered to kill me if I show up," said Mack.

"Can't you just turn invisible?" asked William. Mack tried to focus and concentrate, but to no avail.

"It's no use…" sighed Mack, "I can't concentrate enough. I have too much on my mind."

"Then we need a diversion!" said William with a fiendish grin on his face.

"What?" said Mack with surprise, "You aren't really going to try anything dumb, are you?"

"Dumb? Perhaps, but consider this," explained William, "They've been ordered to kill the Guardian of Gardev, but what about a relatively harmless Pikachu? Who would suspect that such a cute little creature could be so much trouble?" Mack grinned at him.

"Okay. Go get 'em you little trouble maker!" chuckled Mack as William started climbing up the nearest tower.

"I'm telling you, there's more to Dr. Newman than meets the eye!" said the first guard as the other guard cleaned chocolate frosting out of his ears.

"Pika-pika!" said a high-pitched voice behind the guards. They quickly turned around and came face to face with a Pikachu.

"Hmmm? What have we here?" said the second guard.

"Looks like a Pikachu!" said the first guard as he took a few steps away from the electric rodent.

"Please…" said the second guard as he walked up and gently stroked the Pikachu. The Pikachu squeaked with delight.

"You sure that's such a good idea? That's a wild Pikachu! It might fry you!" warned the first guard.

"Come, come," said the second guard as he continued to pet the content Pikachu, "Pikachu are usually very shy, but also very friendly. Trust me; this little fellow isn't going to give us any trouble." Suddenly, William jumped out from under the guard's hands and grabbed the box of doughnuts with his mouth.

"Huh?!" said the first guard as he jumped back with surprise.

"Hey! Those doughnuts are mine!" shouted the irritated second guard. William put the box of doughnuts down on in front of himself and then started dancing about the room.

"Pika, pika, piiika!" taunted William before he grabbed the doughnut box and jumped out the window on the tower.

"After that little moron!" shouted the second guard as he and his partner climbed down the tower.

"What did you say about the little freak not giving us any trouble?" asked the first guard with sarcasm.

"Shut up!" replied the second guard as he kept his eyes on the Pikachu. William was running left and right in the streets, dashing between guards and drawing a lot of attention.

"What's the meaning of this?" demanded another guard.

"A wild Pikachu broke into the base!" said the first guard.

"And he stole my doughnuts!" complained the second guard as the third guard laughed to himself.

"No matter! Hunt down the little rat! Use the capture cannons on it!" ordered the third guard. The guards dropped their rifles, picked up capture cannons and then futilely tried to stop the marauding Pikachu. Mack couldn't help but laugh as he watched the guards run back and forth in pursuit of a thieving Pikachu. Mack tried focusing his power again, but he still could not bend light around himself enough to become invisible. Mack decided that he had better not waste time and he stealthily approached the base. With the guards busy, Mack was able to slip in the front gate unnoticed. Moments later, Mack hid behind a large crate as William ran by with all the guards after him. William ran into the largest building in the complex. The guards followed right after him, but could not keep up. Minutes later, they found the doughnut box in one of the hallways. The second guard picked it up and to his horror; he discovered that the box of pastries was now empty.

"Gadzooks! Not only did that little rat make fools out of us, but he ate all my doughnuts!" complained the second guard. A loud belch from down another hallway confirmed his fears. While the guards searched every nook and cranny for Mack's irritating Pikachu, Mack ran silently down the hallways. He felt drawn to a certain room in the building. He didn't bother wasting the time to hack the digital lock, so he blasted the door open. As the door fell, Mack gasped. In a large glass tube in the middle of the room, sat Mewtwo. Mack slowly entered the room, staring at Mewtwo, wondering how he had been brought here.

"Is Cipher really strong enough to capture one of the world's most dangerous Pokémon?" thought Mack as he walked closer. Mewtwo slowly opened his eyes and then gazed at the figure of a Gardevoir as it walked towards him.

"The Guardian of Gardev is more beautiful than I had ever imagined," said Mewtwo through his powers of telepathy.

"Hey! Don't get any funny ideas!" shouted Mack in Aura's voice. Mewtwo closed his eyes and focused his power more closely. He opened his eyes again. He seemed to be rather disgusted.

"Hmmm…I know you from somewhere…" remarked Mewtwo as he stood up, "You're really that metallic, alien warrior, Dr. Mack Foxx!"

"We meet again, Mewtwo," said Mack, "I was wondering when we would meet face to face again."

"How could you remember me? I thought I had erased your memory as I departed from that island," said a perplexed Mewtwo.

"You really think I would let someone tinker with my memories? Your powers are strong, but your attempt to eradicate my memory of you and everything that happened on that day failed," explained Mack.

"It doesn't matter anyway," said Mewtwo, "It seems what they have foreseen indeed came true: the Guardian of Gardev and an alien warrior have come to save us. I never imagined that both of you would come in the same body, though."

"What do you mean 'Us'?" asked Mack.

"Oh, my new friend here was also brought here by the same machine that captured me," said Mewtwo as he pointed to a capsule behind him. Mack was shocked at what he saw: in the capsule, sat his Lugia. He even still had the silver collar that Mack had given him all those years ago.

"Xavier?!" shouted Mack with shock.

"Who said my name?" asked Xavier with a yawn as he got to his feet. He took a close look at the Gardevoir who stood before him.

"Mack? Is that you? What have you done to yourself?!" demanded Xavier.

"To keep a long story short, I was fused with a Gardevoir named Aura, who I was supposed to rescue but I ended up being fused with her due to a teleportation accident," explained Mack.

"Are you going to stay like that?" asked Xavier.

"Of course not! While I'm here trying to stop Cipher, Central and K-1 are trying to find a way to safely split Aura and me apart. Until that happens, I'm going to have to protect Gardev. It's the least I can do for Aura since she saved my life," said Mack as he walked over to a control panel.

"I see, but you still make a cute Gardevoir," said Xavier with laughter.

"I see you haven't changed much over the last 2 years," grumbled Mack as he tried to hack the terminal. Mack was almost able to open the capsules containing Mewtwo and Xavier when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Halt!" said the voice. Mack quickly turned around and came face to face with Dr. Newman and Cecil.

"Of all places for you to wander into!" growled Cecil, "Hold it off as long as you can, Dr. Newman. I'll be right back." Dr. Newman gulped at this command: he knew exactly what Cecil was planning, but he knew he had better comply. After all, if Cecil was about to hastily kill a Gardevoir, what would stop Cecil from killing Dr. Newman with the same weapon? Dr. Newman grabbed six Pokéballs from his belt into his hands and then he quickly threw them to the floor right in front of Mack. Mack took a few steps back as six Alakazams appeared before him.

"Isaac, Albert, Benjamin, Thomas, Leonardo and Galileo: attack that Gardevoir! Subdue her quickly or Cecil will try to kill her!" ordered Dr. Newman. The Alakazams' eyes glowed in response to their trainer's order and they were soon enshrouded behind an aura of blue light.

"So, each of them is named after a famous inventor or scientist, but how am I supposed to fight in a Pokémon battle when I have no Pokémon? Of course! What am I thinking?! For the time being, I AM a Pokémon!" thought Mack as he started focusing his power, "My psychic attacks might not be very useful against these Pokémon, but I do have one trick up my sleeves that Aura can only dream about." Dr. Newman stood still, stunned as he watched the Gardevoir focus a ball of light between her hands. Mack quickly thrust his hands forward, launching the ball of light at the row of Alakazams. The ball of light hit the ground right in front of them, exploding into a bright flash and knocking all the Alakazams to the floor. Mack jumped into the air, focusing his power even more and then fired beams of explosive light from his hands at his targets. The Alakazams were blown into the walls around Dr. Newman.

"Don't give up!" shouted Dr. Newman, "The Guardian's life is at stake! We can't let Cecil come back and find out that we haven't stopped her! He'll kill her!" The Alakazams slowly got back on their feet and staggered towards the Gardevoir.

"What is that guy talking about? No matter. These Alakazams are no more than punching bags against me," though Mack as he started concentrating even deeper. Dr. Newman looked on as the Gardevoir become surrounded in a bubble of light and then started to float in the air with its skirt panels fluttering. Dr. Newman clenched his fists. He gazed at his Alakazams: they were all barely able to stand because of the guardian's attacks. Never before had Dr. Newman seen or even heard about a Pokémon that could attack with the power of light. Dr. Newman knew very well what he had to do now.

"Mercy! Mercy!" shouted Dr. Newman as he fell on his knees with his face to the ground, "Oh, Guardian of Gardev, please! No more! No More! Please don't hurt my friends!" Mack glanced at Dr. Newman and then he slowly set his feet back on the ground as the bright bubble of light quickly vanished.

"You give up?" asked Mack.

"Yes! Just please!" sobbed Dr. Newman, "Please leave my friends alone! I won't stop you…" Mack looked over Dr. Newman.

"A man like you really has no place in a criminal gang like Cipher," said Mack, "Your very job is threatened and you still don't sacrifice your Pokémon for yourself."

"I don't want to see them suffer any more," said Dr. Newman with tears, "Please have mercy on us."

"As long as you stay out of my way, I have no need to hurt you or them any further," said Mack as he closed his eyes. Dr. Newman looked up to see the Gardevoir glow ever brighter with a white aura. Mack pointed his hands at the ground and a wave of white light slowly glided across the floor. As the wave of light moved on, Dr. Newman watched his Alakazams get back to their feet with all their wounds healed. The light faded as Mack opened his eyes.

"You are foolish, Guardian of Gardev," said a voice from somewhere in the room. Mack turned around and faced a glass window in the room. Behind the window, stood a short man with his face and body obscured by shadows.

"Who are you?" asked Mack. Dr. Newman trembled as he gazed at the short man.

"I am the leader of Cipher. I need not tell my name to garbage like you. You may call me 'Master Greevil'," said the short man, "Soon, maybe you will just call me master, instead."

"That will never happen! I will not be anyone's slave!" shouted Mack.

"Indeed," said Master Greevil with cruel laughter, "Come: it is time we left this place." Mack saw two much taller men escort Master Greevil out of the small room behind the glass.

"No one will be your master alright!" shouted Cecil with rage. Mack quickly turned around as Dr. Newman shrieked. Mack's eyes went wide as he stared down the barrel of a strange gun.

"I beg you, Cecil! Don't do it!" pleaded Dr. Newman.

"Give my regards to hell, you worthless beast!" yelled Cecil as he cocked the gun. Suddenly, an air vent panel exploded outward as two Kirlia, a Ralts and a Mawile landed on Cecil. Cecil shrieked as the gun flew out of his hands. The gun hit the ground and went off, blasting a giant hole in a nearby wall.

"That was too close!" thought Mack. Dr. Newman stood still, stunned at what a single shot of his brother's weapons could do.

"My horrid brother Alvin built those terrible weapons and one of them almost killed the Guardian of Gardev…" thought Dr. Newman as he faced the Gardevoir. They quickly turned around to face Cecil. He was still fighting with Anna, Fredrick, Sakura and Li. With a howl of rage he threw them off into a wall to his left, knocking the little Pokémon senseless. He quickly grabbed the gun and pointed it at the young, dazed Pokémon.

"You can die with this horrid Gardevoir, too!" growled Cecil as he put his finger on the trigger. Dr. Newman fell to the floor as Mack rushed forward, tackled Cecil and pinned him to the ground.

"It ends here!" said Mack as he pressed Cecil's wrists to the ground. Cecil smiled and erupted with evil laughter.

"I never imagined that the new Guardian of Gardev would be this much trouble!" laughed Cecil as he struggled to shake the Gardevoir off himself.

"New Guardian?" said Mack with laughter, "The previous guardian still lives and is right before you!" Cecil froze and took a closer look as the Gardevoir that was pinning him to the floor.

"You…you're that worthless guardian, Aura!" stammered Cecil with fright.

"Indeed," said Mack as his eyes glowed white, "Did you really think that the destruction of your Mt. Terror facility would stop us?" Cecil stared at Aura, bewildered.

"Us?" asked Cecil as he stared into Aura's eyes, then screamed with shear terror.

"Figured it out?" asked Mack as his eyes glowed brighter.

"I never thought such a thing could happen: one life form being fused with another," said Cecil as he marveled at this sight, "Dr. Alvin Namwen would love to know of this." Dr. Newman gasped as Cecil threw Mack into a wall with surprising strength, knocking the air out of the noble guardian. Cecil glared at Dr. Newman. Dr. Newman crossed his arms as his Alakazams gathered around their master to protect him.

"How about you give up right now?" asked Dr. Newman with a scowl.

"Because, thanks to you, this appalling mutant and your dear brother," said Cecil as he pointed at Dr. Newman and Aura, "I now have what I need to make Cipher invincible! Farewell!" Cecil started running for the nearest door.

"Stop him!" commanded Dr. Newman as his Alakazams combined their telekinetic powers to grab Cecil into the air, but strangely, nothing happened. Cecil didn't even slow down.

"Again, I thank you!" shouted Cecil with evil laughter as the door closed behind him. Moments later, the control panel on the door started sparking.

"He used a psychic jammer to evade my friends' power," said Dr. Newman, "And then he destroyed the electronic lock on the door. Open that door!" Dr. Newman pointed at the door and his Alakazams tried to focus their power again, but the door didn't even budge.

"It's no use," said Cecil from behind the door, "I'm wearing a psychic jammer and have placed another jammer by the door. You won't be able to follow me now. It's a real pity that you didn't follow in your brother's footsteps. I'll give him your regards."

"My evil brother…" said Dr. Newman softly.

"That Gardevoir's head would have made a great trophy, too! Since I can't have that, though, I'll just have to settle for the complete destruction of Gardev!" said Cecil with maniacal laughter. Dr. Newman listened carefully as Cecil's insane laughter got quieter and quieter as he ran down the hallways. Dr. Newman ran over and quickly helped Mack and the other young Pokémon to their feet.

"Thank you…" said Mack as he tried to regain his balance.

"I should be thanking you. With your help, I can finally leave this horrible place!" said Dr. Newman with glee.

"Aren't you forgetting about something?" said Mewtwo as Mack and Dr. Newman faced him, "This machine: Project Epsilon. It needs to be destroyed at once as well as all information that relates to it. Otherwise, Cipher will be able to build another one and be able to instantly capture any Pokémon from anywhere on the earth."

"You're right!" said Dr. Newman as he ran for a nearby desk in the room. Mack stood up straight as Sakura, Li, Anna and Fredrick ran up and hugged Mack.

"Thank you all very much," said Mack softly as Sakura and Anna giggled.

"We weren't gonna let that bad man hurt you!" said Anna with glee as she held the body of her sister tightly. Dr. Newman gasped and stood up.

"The back up disks…they're gone…" said Dr. Newman with fear.

"What?!" yelled Mack as the Pokémon around him let go, "What about my suit of armor?" Dr. Newman ran over to a steel door in the room. He quickly punched some keys to disable the electronic lock. Moments later, the door opened to reveal an empty storage space.

"Someone took all the disks and my armor?!" shouted Mack. Dr. Newman found a small, folded note near where the armor had sat. He opened the note and read it out loud:

"My dear brother, thank you for all these wonderful gifts. I'll make perfect use of them. Sincerely, your superior brother, Alvin," said Dr. Newman with rage as he read the note.

"They may have all the needed data and my armor, but destroying this base and Project Epsilon will still deal a nasty blow to Cipher!" said Mack with resolve.

"Agreed!" said Dr. Newman as he ran up to a computer console and furiously pressed some switches. Seconds later, the capsules with Mewtwo and Lugia opened.

"Ah! I can finally stretch out again!" said Xavier with relief as he spread his wings.

"Still, I never did find those records that were stolen from Gardev," sighed Mack.

"Those records?" asked Dr. Newman, "You can find them in the archival room about 100 yards down the hallway."

"How about we get them?" asked Anna, much to Sakura's, Li's and Fredrick's surprise.

"Maybe," said Mack as he faced Mewtwo as he floated in the air, "Can you watch over them?"

"Of course," replied Mewtwo, "You set me free. Guarding these young Pokémon is the least I can do for you."

"Xavier, I want you to take Dr. Newman to safety," ordered Mack.

"You've got it!" said Xavier, "Climb on guys!" Dr. Newman and his Alakazams quickly climbed onto Xavier's back.

"Okay, Xavier, you fly Dr. Newman back to Gardev," said Mack as he faced the group of young Pokémon and Mewtwo, "You guys will grab those stolen records and then make your way back to Gardev. Move quickly! There's no telling what will happen when this machine goes off!"

"Right!" said Xavier, Mewtwo, Dr. Newman, Sakura, Li, Anna and Fredrick in unison.

"Now go! You've got ten minutes!" shouted Mack. Xavier focused his power and quickly blasted a hole in the ceiling using Hyper Beam as Mewtwo and the young Pokémon ran down the hallway. As Xavier flew out the fresh hole in the ceiling, Mack closely studied the machine, trying to figure out the best and safest way to destroy it. Something about one of the computers in the room quickly caught his eyes.

"What have we here?" thought Mack as he quickly typed on the keyboard. Mack soon discovered that this computer was tracking all the capture cannons that had been built by Cipher.

"Too easy," thought Mack with a grin as he hacked the tracking program. Moments later, a message came up on the screen warning that the self-destruct sequence on the capture cannons had been activated. Then another message came up saying that the process had been completed.

"That did the trick. The self-destruct systems on those cannons just fused the complex circuitry, making them useless," thought Mack with relief. He quickly got back to work while waiting for his friends to escape.


	11. Section 11

**-35-**

K-1 quickly ran to the window at the sound of a distant explosion. He saw a faint orange beam of energy miles away.

"Energy spike detected," said Central through K-1's built in radio.

"No kidding…" grumbled K-1 as he stared out the window, "You better come back in one piece, Mack." Warren, Jake, Makoto and her daughter, Sakura also noticed the strange beam of light.

"A Hyper Beam?" asked Jake with astonishment.

"Something big is going on," said Warren. He had a bad feeling about what was happening.

"Has anyone seen Aura lately?" asked Sakura with concern.

"Perhaps she found those thieves' hideout?" suggested Jake.

"They must have found their hideout," said Warren with some relief.

"Excuse me, but what do you mean 'They'?" asked Jake with suspicion.

"Isn't it obvious? Aura and that metallic mercenary have been working together for the last several weeks. Where else would Aura get those weapons that we found under her bed? How else would you explain the robot that wanders about Aura's room these days?" said an irritated Warren.

"I guess you're right," muttered Jake.

"Aura will be okay. Won't she?" asked Sakura as she hugged her mother.

"Of course she will," answered Makoto softly.

"Your Pokémon will be glad to see her soon, too," said Makoto with a smile.

"My Pokémon?" asked Sakura, "I haven't seen them all day."

"Maybe they are helping Aura and the mercenary?" suggested Makoto.

"Wouldn't surprise me," laughed Warren, "They'll be safe with Aura."

**-36-**

Mewtwo, Sakura the Kirlia, Anna, Fredrick and Li were running down the seemingly endless hallways and corridors of the building. Anna heard a metallic thud from a nearby air vent.

"What was that?!" shrieked Sakura. They heard some moaning and groaning from the vent as some soft footsteps got louder.

"What is going on here?" asked Fredrick with curiosity.

"We haven't much time," cautioned Mewtwo. Li grabbed the vent with his giant maw and effortlessly tore the panel out of the wall to reveal a Pikachu.

"Thanks…" groaned William as he staggered into the hallway, "I was starting to think I'd never get out of those vents. All the other panels were locked and I'm too sick to blast them with electricity."

"Hey! You're my sister's new pet, aren't you?" asked Anna with glee.

"I beg your pardon! I'm Mack's Pikachu!" shouted William as he slowly walked towards Sakura.

"Close enough," said Fredrick.

"I suppose so, since Aura and Mack are in the same body right now…" said William as he fell on his face in front of Sakura.

"What happened to you? You look very sick," said Sakura with some concern.

"I've had worse days…" said William with a belch, "Just remind me to never eat half a dozen Boston Cream doughnuts in under two minutes again, okay?"

"Okay," said a confused Sakura as she picked William up into her arms.

"We most move quickly. We have less than eight minutes before Mack destroys this facility," warned Mewtwo as the group started running down the halls again, stopping at a large door.

"This must be the archival room," said Fredrick. The door was locked tight.

"Stand back, kids," said Mewtwo. The young Pokémon stood back several feet as Mewtwo started glowing. Seconds later, the door to the archival room was torn from its hinges and thrown through a few walls. They stepped into the room and gasped: everywhere in the room there were large filing cabinets and huge boxes covering every square inch of the floor with a few paths in between.

"How are we going to find the right papers in this?" asked Anna with a sigh.

"We'll just have to take them all," said Mewtwo as he lifted all the cabinets and boxes into the air.

"Are you sure?" asked Anna.

"I can handle all of these, now let's go!" said Mewtwo as they started running for the exit. Suddenly, a trooper jumped out from behind a corner.

"Halt!" said the trooper as he quickly studied the Pokémon, "Trying to steal our records, eh? I'll just have to put a stop to you." The trooper lowered his capture cannon into place. Sakura and Li cowered into the wall behind them. Something seemed amiss to Fredrick.

"Why does it smell like burnt electronics?" thought Fredrick as he closely eyed the trooper's strange cannon. A small amount of smoke was coming from the vents of the cannon. The trooper pulled the trigger, but nothing happened, except for more smoke to come pouring out of the cannon's vents.

"What is blazes?!" shouted the trooper as he threw the cannon to the floor behind him, "It isn't working now?! But how?!"

"Looks like someone found a way to destroy those terrible weapons just a few seconds ago," thought Fredrick.

"We'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way then!" said the trooper with anger as he threw a Pokéball to the ground. The Pokéball opened with a bright flash, revealing a Murkrow.

"How are we supposed to defeat that?" thought Anna.

"And just to make things interesting," said the trooper as he pulled out a small box and flipped a switch on it, "Now you can't use any of your psychic powers on me or my Pokémon!"

"Another psychic jammer? Great…" muttered Mewtwo as he tried to keep the boxes and cabinets behind him from falling to the ground. Sakura jumped behind Li for protection while holding William tightly. Anna got behind Mewtwo.

"Can't you do something, Mewtwo?" asked Anna with fright.

"I'm afraid not. I'm having enough trouble trying to keep all these boxes and cabinets in the air," said Mewtwo. Fredrick jumped in front of the Murkrow.

"What's this? You want to be first, eh? Fine with me! This will be easy," said the trooper, "Murkrow, attack!" The Murkrow charged at Fredrick. However, Fredrick just sat still with one arm behind his back. Just as the Murkrow was a few feet from Fredrick, Fredrick lunged forward with his right arm blazing with electricity and hit the Murkrow squarely in the face with a Thunder Punch. The Murkrow went flying backwards and collided with its trainer. The trooper stared at the little Ralts with disbelief, and then went running down the hallways to escape the pint-sized terror with the psychic jammer in his arms. Anna was amazed.

"That was a nice shot, Fredrick!" said Anna as Fredrick started glowing brightly.

"What's this?!" asked Li as Anna jumped behind Mewtwo for cover. The light got brighter and brighter, becoming almost blinding. The light quickly faded, revealing Fredrick, as a Kirlia.

"Ah," said Mewtwo, "So he evolved."

"He's cute," giggled Sakura.

"I though I was…" groaned William. Anna jumped for joy then ran and wrapped her arms around her brother, Fredrick.

"Yay! My little brother evolved!" shouted Anna with happiness.

"I beg your pardon?!" said Fredrick with surprise, "I'm older than you!"

"Then how come she evolved before you did?" asked Li. Fredrick shrugged.

"Perhaps it's because Anna has been in a lot more fights than I have. My little sister has quite the temper," chuckled Fredrick as Anna glared at him.

"You've proved your point," said a nauseated William, "Now let's get out of here!" Anna, Fredrick, Mewtwo, Li and Sakura with William in her arms immediately began running down the hallway towards the exit. Mewtwo was strained, trying to keep hundreds of heavy objects in the air as he floated after the young Pokémon. Soon, they were out the front door and out the front gate. Meanwhile, Mack was still studying the machine known as Project Epsilon. Mack focused his power and was able to track his friends as they ran for safety. There was no telling what was about to happen when this gargantuan machine was destroyed. Mack decided to wait for his friends to get safely to Gardev before he unleashed his wrath upon Project Epsilon.

**-37-**

K-1 had jumped back with fright as he saw the remains of the capture cannon start sparking and smoking.

"What on earth just happened?!" thought K-1, "Ah! Mack must have finally found out how to destroy all the copies of his capture claw!"

"K-1? Are you busy?" asked Central though K-1's radio.

"K-1 here, what's up?" asked K-1.

"According to my sensors, the counterfeit capture claws have all been destroyed," reported Central.

"No kidding…" muttered K-1 as he glanced at the smoldering wreckage that was on Aura's desk.

"Unfortunately, I have also detected the destruction of the original capture claw. From what I can gather, repairs will be impossible," said Central with some disappointment.

"Maybe its better that way: Imagine if Cipher had managed to mass-produce those cannons? There would be almost nothing to stop them from stealing Pokémon whenever they pleased. Now that's impossible," said K-1 with some relief. Warren suddenly stormed into the room, drawn in by the smell of burning machinery.

"What in blazes is going on back here?!" demanded Warren. His gaze soon caught the smoking, half-melted cannon on Aura's desk. Warren glared at K-1.

"It wasn't me!" pleaded K-1.

"Either way, that desk has been in the family for hundreds of years!" shouted Warren.

"Please…" muttered K-1 as he extended an arm from his chest compartment, picked up the smoking weapon and then casually tossed it out the nearest window. K-1 heard a metallic "Klunk!" followed closely by a much louder "OUCH!!!"

"And you just struck Jake…" grumbled Warren. K-1 was not paying any attention to Warren, but at the commotion that was happening in the town square.

"What's going on here?" asked K-1 to himself as he jumped out the window and started running for the town square. Warren ran outside, helped Jake to his feet and then they started running after K-1. Many of the town's citizens were gathered near the Gardevoir memorial statue. K-1 walked over for a closer look. Standing in front of the statue was three Kirlia, a Mawile and a Pokémon that no one had seen before as well as several hundred filing cabinets and boxes.

"What is the meaning of this?!" exclaimed a thoroughly surprised Jake.

"Looks like Dr. Foxx had a few friends help him recover our records and then some…" stammered Warren as he thought he was going to have a heart attack. K-1 took a closer look at the strange Pokémon before him.

"Hmmmmm…" said K-1 as he closely analyzed the Pokémon, "Ah! Species number one hundred and fifty. Name: Mewtwo," said K-1.

"Do I know you?" asked Mewtwo via telepathy. Somehow, K-1 was able to hear Mewtwo's psychic communication.

"We have never met, but Mack told me all about you," answered K-1.

"What is going on here? Not all of the records could possibly belong at my city hall!" shouted Warren. Mewtwo and the other Pokémon faced Warren and Jake.

"Aura had us bring these here," said Anna politely.

"I know that voice," said K-1 as he went down the line of young Pokémon, "Anna, Li, Sakura, William and Mewtwo all helped." K-1 didn't recognize one of the Kirlia.

"Either you're new here, or you evolved…" muttered K-1 as he closely studied the unidentified Kirlia.

"I'm Fredrick! Sheesh!" said Fredrick with a scowl.

"We did not have enough time to sort through all this information," explained Mewtwo, "So, I decided we should bring it all here. You should be able to sort out your own papers from this junk within a few days."

"What a gold mine!" said K-1 with excitement as he peered into the filing cabinets and boxes, "There is bound to be a wealth of information in here about that criminal organization as well as their latest activities!"

"And I was starting to wonder what had become of that metal mercenary," said Jake with some relief.

"I suppose you would not object to rewarding Dr. Foxx now?" asked Warren.

"I suppose," answered Jake with a sigh.

"Speaking of Mack," said K-1 as he faced the young Pokémon and Mewtwo, "Where is he?"

"Mack…erm…and Aura are preparing to destroy those thieves' facility," answered Fredrick with uneasiness.

"I hope he doesn't come back too soon…" said K-1 with sadness.

"What? Why shouldn't Mack come back too soon?" asked a confused Sakura. K-1 motioned for the young Pokémon and Mewtwo to follow him.

"Excuse us for a moment," said K-1 as he walked back to Warren's house with the group of Pokémon behind him. After they entered Aura's room, K-1 shut and locked the door.

"Now can you explain what's going on?" asked Anna impatiently.

"I don't have the heart to tell him this, but I just got some results from Central," said K-1.

"Who's Central?" asked Li.

"Central is the name of Mack's powerful computer, most specifically, the artificial intelligence and sentience program," explained K-1, "Anyway, I got some results from Central. She has been running simulations and calculations for the last several weeks and…"

"And what?" asked Sakura as she gently set William on Aura's bed. K-1 hesitated.

"There seems to be no way to safely separate Aura and Mack," said K-1 with disappointment.

"How come?" asked Anna.

"Well, there are several ways to split them apart, but there always seems to be the chance of either one or both of them dying in the process or even some…unusual side effects," explained K-1. Everyone in the room became silent.

"So that's the story," said Warren as he unlocked the door and entered the room. K-1 jumped back into a corner from shock.

"Oh, no!" shouted Anna.

"Relax," said Warren calmly, "Now I know the whole story. So, Mack was bonded with Aura when he tried to rescue her. Do you think Mack would stay here and continue Aura's duties as guardian?"

"Unlikely," said K-1, "Mack and I have been trying to return to our home world for several…years now. I don't think he would want to stay here for long."

"Then something is just bound to happen!" said Anna.

"We could always try one of those methods that Central came up with and just pray for the best," said Fredrick.

"That's if Mack makes it back here alive," said Mewtwo as everyone stared at him with shock, "There really is no telling what will happen when Project Epsilon is eliminated." 

**-38-**

Mack took one last quick survey of Project Epsilon as well as the room. He looked up at where Xavier had blasted a large hole in the ceiling. He would have used that for his escape, but Xavier must have damaged some high-tension wires and now there was lightning lancing back and forth. If the electricity here was as powerful as it was in the Mt. Terror base, then his psychic barriers would not provide any protection against the lethal currents. His attention soon turned back to Project Epsilon.

"Such a fine piece of machinery," thought Mack, "It really is a pity that I must utterly destroy it." A computer monitor in the room lit up and Mack ran over to it. The computer was flashing a message, saying that reinforcements would be arriving within the hour. Mack took a look at the amounts of Cipher troops and equipment that were going to descend on the base within a matter of minutes.

"There's no time then," thought Mack as he glared at the monumental machine. He closed his eyes and started focusing his power. Mack slowly floated off the ground and started glowing with a blinding white light as the panels of his skirt fluttered. Mack glanced at his chest and watched the pendant glow ever brighter.

"Here we go, Aura!" said Mack loudly as he fired a giant beam of light from his hands. The light hit the giant machine and a bright flash lit up the room. Mack looked onward as his beam of light cut into Project Epsilon, tearing up metal and severing thick wires. Electricity shot through the room, but was deflected by Mack's psychic barrier.

"Time to leave!" thought Mack frantically as he turned around and started flying for the nearest door. Mack turned around and stopped in his tracks at what he saw next. Strange blobs of energy, almost as colorful as a rainbow, were shooting out of the massive gouges in the machinery. Before Mack could react and fly out of the room, one of the blobs of energy collided with him. The energy went right through his barrier and enshrouded him with a multi-colored aura. Mack fell to the ground as his body started to seize up. Mack gazed at his Gardevoir hands as they glowed bright from the strange energy.

"I've never seen energy like this before in all my travels!" marveled Mack as he writhed with pain. His vision started to blur. He brought his hands to the sides of his head.

"I…I feel like I'm being…torn apart!" thought Mack with sheer terror as he blacked out. Moments later, a bright explosion of light and smoke lit up the sky for miles around. K-1 and everyone else in Aura's room ran for the nearest window and stared at the massive cloud of smoke that was coming from the forest.

"Mack succeeded!" shouted K-1 with excitement, "That should teach Cipher a lesson or two!" The Pokémon with K-1 were not so excited.

"Do you think Mack made it out of there in time?" asked Anna. Mewtwo closed his eyes and focused his power.

"I think he did. He should be back here in a matter of minutes," reassured K-1.

"Can Mack's computer find him?" asked Li.

"Central should be able to locate him quite easily," said K-1 with confidence as he tried to contact Central through his radio, but the only response he got was garbled speech.

"Is something wrong?" asked Li.

"Something is disrupting my signal," said K-1 with astonishment, "That explosion must have generated some serious magnetic disturbances and disrupted Central's data arrays. At least that's what my sensors say."

"In other words?" asked Sakura.

"The explosion from Cipher's base was weird and it messed up Central. I can't contact her now. She's probably using all her available power to quickly reconstruct the information that was corrupted from that bizarre blast," explained K-1 as best he could in Layman's Terms.

"Mack wouldn't go down that easily, anyway," said William as he sat back up, finally getting over his sickness.

"I am not so sure," said Mewtwo.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's get over there and find him!" said Anna sternly. They all ran out of the room and towards the forest.

"I hope he's alright," said Sakura concern.

"He better be," said Fredrick, "If he didn't make it, neither did our sister." Meanwhile, Cecil stood on a hill, miles from what was left his facility. Cecil seethed with rage. Not only had his entire base been demolished, but Project Epsilon was destroyed. That fact that the Guardian of Gardev had survived the destruction of his Mt. Terror facility was bad enough, but the guardian had also laid waste to the last base under his command. The rare Pokémon that had been captured using Project Epsilon were now gone too, especially Mewtwo, the one-of-a-kind Pokémon that could have very well made Cipher unstoppable. Also, Dr. Newman, Cecil's greatest asset had betrayed him and mysteriously disappeared. Despite all these shortfalls, Cecil was still not ready to give up. A Cipher trooper walked up to Cecil.

"Is everything in place?" asked Cecil.

"Yes, sir! All the supplies are here and accounted for. It's very fortunate that we evacuated when we did," replied the trooper.

"Indeed," said Cecil as he gazed at the hillsides near Gardev, "I want you to get the charges in place as soon as possible."

"As you wish, but are you sure you want to do this?" asked the trooper. Cecil glared at the trooper.

"You dare to question me?!" thundered Cecil.

"Of course not, sir!" answered the trooper with fear.

"Good. How soon will your men be finished?" asked Cecil.

"It should only take a week at most to lay the charges and cables," answered the trooper.

"Excellent," aid Cecil as he returned his gaze to Gardev and glared at the small town nestled in the valley.


	12. Section 12

**-39-**

Mack awoke in a world of blurred vision. He senses were also scrambled enough that he couldn't tell which way was up, down, left or right.

"I made it…" thought Mack as he rubbed his eyes. This felt unusually strange to him.

"He's awake!" said a familiar voice with excitement. Mack's vision started to clear.

"Where am I?" asked Mack as his senses started working properly again. He saw a bright yellow blob sitting on his chest.

"You are in Gardev. To be precise, you are on the second floor of the mayor's house in a guest room and it's also 4:00 in the afternoon, just incase you wanted to know," said the voice smugly.

"William?" asked Mack as his vision returned to normal.

"Were you expecting someone else?" asked William. Mack looked closely at his body. His orange and white fur had returned. Mack jumped out of bed and ran to the nearest mirror and was greeted by his fox-like face.

"I'm back to normal…" thought Mack.

"Glad to see that you're still alive," chuckled Warren from behind Mack. Mack quickly turned around, shocked that someone had seen his true form. He slumped on the bathroom counter as the little strength he had quickly faded.

"Please relax, Dr. Foxx. You've been asleep for almost a week," said Warren as Jake helped Mack back into bed.

"What happened?" asked Mack, "Where's Aura?"

"Right here!" said a feminine voice as Mack felt some strong arms wrap around him.

"Gah!" exclaimed Mack with surprise as Warren laughed. Mack soon realized that he had just been blindsided by a Gardevoir.

"Let me explain," said Warren as he handed Mack a cup of coffee, "You see, after the destruction of Cipher's base, the whole town went out to find Aura. In the middle of a crater, we found you out cold with Aura in your arms. It looked like you were trying to protect her. You've been asleep for almost a week. Aura, on the other hand, woke up days ago and hasn't left your side." Mack looked around the room. Makoto, K-1 and Sakura were in the room too as well as the young Pokémon: Li, Sakura the Kirlia and Anna. There was one other Kirlia too that Mack didn't recognize.

"Is that you, Fredrick? Did you evolve?" asked Mack.

"You bet!" said Fredrick with a grin.

"You sure made a heck of a mess out of those buildings back in the forest!" said William.

"Where's Xavier and Mewtwo?" asked Mack as he tried to pry Aura's arms off of himself.

"I'm back here, with Dr. Newman," said Mewtwo through telepathy. Mack sat up and saw Dr. Newman standing next to Mewtwo.

"There's only one thing I don't get, though," said Mack as he faced K-1, "How did Aura and I get split?"

"To be honest, the explosion that was generated at the Cipher facility caused extreme magnetic disturbances among other things," explained K-1, "It appears that some this unidentified energy is responsible for crudely separating you and Aura. I'm very glad to say that both of you are alive and well."

"No kidding!" laughed Mack as he continued to try to get free from Aura's embrace.

"However, there are some problems that we must consider," said K-1 grimly, "In all of Central's simulations; there was always the chance that either one or both of you would die from the process. On top of that, there was a high risk of various…side effects."

"Side effects?" asked Mack with concern, "Like what?"

"Well…for starters, you can still completely understand Pokémon without a translator," said K-1.

"Yep!" said William as he rubbed against Mack's left side.

"I was wondering about that," said Mack with a sigh.

"There's something…different about me, too," said Aura softly.

"How so?" asked Mack. Aura responded by holding out her right hand. She closed her eyes and formed a small orb of white light in her hands. Mack gazed into the orb with astonishment. A few moments later, Aura closed her hand, making the orb vanish

"Aura seems to now have power over light, just like you do," remarked K-1, "But I still don't know the full effects of this crude separation."

"Is Central working on this?" asked Mack as Aura continued to hold him tightly.

"I'm afraid not," said K-1 with some sadness, "Central's memory and data banks were completely corrupted. Central, herself, is alright, but it will take months for her to sort out and recover all the information that was damaged from that freak explosion. I'm working on the problem right now, but it could take months."

"So, how are you going to accomplish this anyway?" asked Mack with curiosity as he gave up trying to get free from Aura.

"Gardevoir aren't the Embrace Pokémon for nothing," giggled Anna.

"Anyway," said K-1 as he paced back and forth, "All I can do is thoroughly analyze a previous DNA sample of yours and compare it to your current DNA structure. It might take a few weeks or a few months to find any differences. Nevertheless, there don't seem to be any negative side effects so far."

"That's a relief," said Mack as Aura held him even tighter, "Is something bothering you Aura?"

"Thank you…" said Aura softly, "I knew you would never abandon Gardev or my family. You see, back at that Mt. Terror base, both of us had been weakened so much, that I couldn't control my power very well when I tried to teleport us to safety. Thus, we were fused together. I tried to help you as much as I could along the way by showing you my memories in your dreams and to also help guide you. It was the least I could do for saving me and for protecting the people of Gardev. Thank you."

"Your welcome," said Mack.

"I must thank you as well," said another familiar voice. Mack looked to his right and saw another Gardevoir standing next to the bed.

"Ramirez?" asked Mack.

"Of course. I want to thank you for taking good care of my sister and for saving her from those thieves. I'm not ready to become the next Guardian of Gardev," said Ramirez.

"It's nothing, really. I just did what was right as well as necessary," said Mack with a shrug.

"You completed your mission," said Warren as he sat in a chair near Mack, "You saved Aura and you managed to recover the stolen records. Of course, you also had plenty of help along the way." Warren pointed at Anna, Sakura the Kirlia, Li, Mewtwo, Fredrick and William.

"Thank you for bringing back my friends," said the little girl, Sakura. Suddenly, the sound of a series of loud explosions filled the room.

"What on earth?!" exclaimed Warren as he ran outside. Mack started running for the door of the room, trying to follow the other people and Pokémon, but his strength had still not fully recovered. Aura stopped next to Mack, put an arm around him and helped him outside. Once outside, Mack soon saw what was wrong: someone had set off several bombs on the nearby hillsides and now, two massive land slides were heading straight for Gardev. Mack looked around and saw that there was no escape from the valley.

"Now what will we do?!" shouted Jake to Warren as the thunderous sound of rolling boulders got louder and louder.

"Its no use…" muttered Warren, "Mack is too weak and Aura is still recovering." The landslides seemed to go on for miles in both directions parallel to Gardev.

"Someone must really want to wipe this small town off the map…" said Mack as he struggled to stand.

"I won't let this happen!" shouted Ramirez as he suddenly flew into the air, surrounded by a soft blue aura of energy. Mack and everyone in Gardev watched in amazement as Ramirez glowed brighter and brighter. He pointed each of his hands at one of the malicious landslides. Mack looked on as the giant rocks started to glow blue and also started to slow down. Ramirez writhed in pain while in the air. The unimaginable weight of the ground and rocks was almost too great to bear. However, Mack and Aura watched as the moving rocks and earth came to complete stop. Moments later, the ground and rocks started to move in reverse.

"You can do it, brother!" shouted Aura with confidence.

"Go for it, bro!" said Fredrick.

"Don't give up, big brother!" yelled Anna. Ramirez yelled loudly as the rocks and ground were moved back in place. The blue glow on the ground slowly faded, as did the bright blue aura around Ramirez.

"He did it," said Mack with amazement.

"It's over…" said Ramirez to himself as he closed his eyes and fell from the sky. Aura tried to focus her power and float Ramirez slowly to the ground, but she was still too weak. Mack watched, horrified, as Ramirez kept falling. He wanted to get on his feet, dash under him and catch him before he hit the ground, but his body wouldn't allow him.

"Brother! Why?!" shouted Aura with anguish as Ramirez continued to fall. Just when Mack was about to howl with rage, a white light surrounded Ramirez. Mack looked on as Ramirez slowed down in his fall and slowly disappeared behind a building. Minutes later, another Gardevoir was slowly walking out from behind the building, with Ramirez in its arms. Aura looked up with tears in her eyes to see that her younger brother had been saved. The Gardevoir glanced at the people and Pokémon who had gathered in the streets.

"Surely you don't think I would allow my great-grandson to be harmed, do you?" asked the Gardevoir.

"Glacian! We meet again at last!" said Warren with delight as he ran up to Glacian. Glacian smiled at his old friend and gently put Ramirez in Aura's arms.

"You know each other?" asked Mack.

"Yes," replied Glacian. Jake was soon shooing the crowds away. They soon went back to their homes, leaving Mack, Aura, Glacian, Ramirez, Fredrick, Anna, Sakura the Kirlia, the little girl Sakura, Makoto, Li, William and Dr. Newman alone in the street. As they walked back to Warren's house, Warren and Glacian were discussing something while Aura carried Ramirez. Aura's siblings stayed close to their sister and brother while Mack tried to piece an elaborate puzzle together.

"So, how come you know Glacian?" asked Mack.

"The mayor of Gardev has more responsibilities than just tending to the citizens here," explained Warren, "The mayor of Gardev is also trusted with the location of the secret Gardevoir city."

"That city has been protected for generations by the mayor of Gardev and his family. There are those who would try and capture us. Even enslave us. Force us to do unspeakable things," said Glacian.

"Cipher…" growled Mack. Glacian nodded as the group entered Warren's house. Off in the distance, Cecil glared at Mack and his friends through a set of binoculars.

"Why can't I have that kind of power at my disposal?!" thundered Cecil as he crushed the binoculars in his hands.

"Unbelievable," said a nearby trooper, "A single Gardevoir stopped your landslides and saved the town."

"I know that already! So much for having my vengeance on that hateful little village!" growled Cecil, "Master Greevil is not going to be pleased! All the facilities that were under my command have been completely destroyed! Not just that, but all my plans to capture the Guardian of Gardev failed one after another! I couldn't even have Dr. Newman turn that beast into a shadow Pokémon!"

"I have heard legends of an ancient Gardevoir city," said the trooper.

"Yes," said Cecil, "The Guardian of Gardev is said to know the location of the Gardevoir city. With those capture cannons, we could have hit and harvested a colossal gold mine of psychic Pokémon. Turning them into shadow Pokémon would be a snap with Dr. Namwen's improved shadow camber."

"I've heard unspeakable things about him. Dr. Newman has told many of us about his brother's atrocities!" said the trooper with anger.

"It's all for a good cause. Even if half of the Pokémon from the legendary city were killed from the shadow process, we would still have an unstoppable army of hundreds of shadow Ralts, Kirlia and Gardevoir. Possibly even more," said Cecil without any concern.

"A pity those records we stole from Gardev yielded nothing," said the trooper.

"Indeed. The mayor might know of the city's location, but I bet he would sooner die than talk," muttered Cecil.

"What will we do now?" asked the trooper.

"We'll have to return to headquarters of Cipher and I will have to explain this mess to Master Greevil," said Cecil.

"What will happen to you?" asked the trooper with fear.

"Nothing will happen to me," said Cecil with some laughter, "Dr. Namwen will vouch for me. Despite the terrible losses of resources here, Dr. Namwen gained some valuable information about Mewtwo while he was imprisoned in that capsule. He also made several other discoveries. Plus, we still have that alien's armor at our disposal."

"We should leave now before we're discovered," cautioned the trooper.

"Of course," said Cecil as he followed the trooper for a few minutes until they came to a helicopter. The thunderstorms around the mountains had finally cleared and it was only a matter of time before police would arrive.

"Have all the necessary precautions been taken?" asked Cecil to the trooper as he boarded the helicopter.

"Yes, sir!" replied the trooper.

"And what of the destroyed facilities?" asked Cecil.

"Not a trace of them remains," answered the trooper as he boarded the helicopter. Minutes later, the helicopter departed. Cecil glanced out the window, glad that at least he would never have to gaze at these mountains or the town of Gardev ever again.

**-40-**

Weeks passed since the day Cecil had tried to utterly destroy Gardev in a fit of rage and hate. After the thunderstorms had finally cleared until the next year, police helicopters were sent to Gardev. The police and several detectives carefully searched the places where the Cipher facilities had been, but they discovered nothing. There was not a trace that the bases had even existed. It was soon discovered that the Mt. Terror facility had been built completely into natural caves that had been carved into the mountain by small streams and underground rivers. All that remained of the facility that used to be a few miles from Gardev was a clearing with long green grass. Mack had finally recovered his strength and also helped with the investigation, but he also found nothing. Even with his X-ray scanners with their ability to see up to one thousand feet through solid ground, he found not even a single scrap of metal.

"Those fiends covered their tracks well," said Mack as he brought some water to Ramirez, who was still recovering. Glacian, Jake, Aura, K-1, Aura's other siblings, Sakura the Kirlia, Li and Warren were in the room as well.

"So, they left the area," said Warren with relief, "Good."

"Dr. Foxx," said Jake with some hesitation, "I want to apologize for the way I treated you before."

"I forgive you," said Mack with a friendly smile.

"We can't offer you much as payment…" said Jake.

"And you don't have too," said Mack, much to Jake and Warren's shock.

"Nevertheless, please take this as a gift from the people of Gardev and from me," said Warren as he placed a large wad of bills into Mack's right hand. Mack quickly counted it up.

"$78,000?! Are you sure?!" said Mack with extreme surprise.

"If I could give you millions for what you did here in Gardev over the last month, I would," said Warren.

"Same here!" said Jake happily.

"At least you no longer have to hide your face in public, Mack," said Glacian, "You are now regarded as a hero and as a citizen of this country. You are also welcome to visit my city at any time."

"I may not have to hide anymore, but I'm still a celebrity," sighed Mack with some laughter, "And thank you, Glacian."

"My pleasure. We're going to become good friends," said Glacian as K-1 walked into the room.

"I helped sort out those records," said K-1, "Except for the paper records from Gardev, the rest was all data tapes and disks. I tried to read them, but the information is heavily encrypted. Besides, I'm using almost all of my CPU power just to investigate the status of your DNA."

"And I'm very glad about that," said Mack, "We need to be sure that nothing is wrong with me. Speaking of which, how much longer will it take for you to know and for Central to be back on line again?"

"It will still be weeks if not months. So far, I haven't found anything abnormal, but I'm only 37.9 complete with the task," said K-1 in a depressed tone.

"You just keep at it," said Mack as he gently patted K-1's large head.

"Don't forget about me!" said William as he leaped into Mack's arms. William squeaked with delight as Mack gently stroked him.

"What will you do next?" asked Fredrick.

"Are you going to leave Gardev?" asked Sakura fearfully.

"I do need to leave Gardev for awhile," said Mack as the younger Pokémon started crying.

"But why?" sobbed Anna.

"Cipher is still out there," said Mack as he gazed out a nearby window. The sun was now rising and the sky was ablaze with fiery colors.

"So, what will you do?" asked Glacian.

"I'm going to find them out where ever they are and put a stop to them!" said Mack resolutely, "I can't allow them to continue their thieving. I will also not allow them to turn any more Pokémon into shadow Pokémon."

"I can agree with that," said a shuddering Li.

"Me too…" said Sakura with fear as she put her arms around Li and Fredrick.

"I knew you would say that," said Glacian as he gazed at Mack, "And that is why I think you should take Aura with you. It would be good for her to go out into the world for a while." Aura jumped to her feet and Ramirez quickly sat up in bed.

"Who will guard the village, then?" asked Aura.

"Obviously, one of your siblings will protect Gardev while you are gone with Mack," said Glacian.

"Then…" said Aura as she started to remove her pendant, "I don't need this any more."

"On the contrary!" interrupted Glacian as he put the pendant back around Aura's neck, "You must take the pendant with you. You will need it." As soon as the pendant was back around Aura's neck, Glacian closed his eyes. In a bright flash, two pendants appeared in his hands. Glacian handed Aura the sapphire pendant.

"I should take this one with me too?" asked a perplexed Aura.

"You will need this on your travels, for you will find your mate during your journey," said Glacian. Aura blushed, took the pendant and held it close to her heart. Glacian then walked over to Ramirez with another pendant hidden in his other hand.

"I…I'm not worthy…" said Ramirez weakly.

"You are indeed worthy to protect this village. Just like a few weeks ago when you almost gave your life for the people of this town, for your friends and for your family," said Glacian.

"Yeah!" said Anna.

"You'll be just fine," said Fredrick.

"Then I accept," coughed Ramirez.

"Then I hereby appoint you as the Guardian of Gardev," said Glacian as he put the pendant around Ramirez's neck. When Glacian moved his hands away, everyone saw that Ramirez was now wearing an emerald pendant. The pendant glowed and Ramirez felt his strength return to him in an instant. Ramirez stood up as everyone in the room smiled.

"Thank you," said Ramirez.

"It has been centuries since the emerald pendant has been used," said Glacian, "The emerald pendant is given to either the brother or sister of the current Guardian of Gardev whenever the guardian needs to rest for a long time or when the guardian will be gone for a long time."

"Please take good care of our sister," said Anna with sadness.

"I'll take good care of Aura. I promise," said Mack.

"I know you will," said Glacian as he held Anna in his arms.

"When will we leave, then?" asked Aura.

"I need to prepare. I'll have to get back to my lab and gather supplies," said Mack as he suddenly stopped in his tracks, "That reminds me: what happened to Mewtwo and Dr. Newman?"

"Mewtwo left a few hours ago, saying that his job here was done. He said he was going to rest in the Gardevoir city before he returned to his home," explained K-1.

"I see," said Mack with some disappointment.

"However, Mewtwo did swipe one of your radios and told me that if we should need his help, we should not hesitate to ask," said K-1.

"Excellent," said Mack with a smile.

"Oh! Dr. Newman is hiding at the lab," said K-1 sheepishly.

"What?!" shouted Mack with surprise, "What is he doing there?!"

"Calm down and I'll explain," said K-1, "You see, Dr. Newman was scared when the police arrived. He figured he would be taken into custody and interrogated about Cipher. Dr. Newman mentioned that anyone who had tried to leave Cipher secretly or tried to tell the authorities has never been seen again. Therefore, Dr. Newman is residing at the lab, helping with Central as well as helping me make repairs to our star fighter, the _Firefox_. Besides, he also has his Alakazams for company and to help him with mentally complex tasks."

"He can stay there for now," said Mack.

"Dr. Newman did say that he knows he has to face the consequences for his actions, but he doesn't want to end up being silenced by Cipher's agents. Besides, he says he's no use to us in jail or in the grave," explained K-1, "As soon as Cipher has been dealt with, he wants to turn himself in to the authorities."

"Such an honorable man really had no place in Cipher," said Mack.

"Definitely!" said Xavier as he popped his head into the room through a window.

"Ah, Xavier!" said Mack happily, "What will you do now?"

"To tell you the truth, I want to come with you on your journey!" said Xavier with enthusiasm.

"Don't forget me, either!" said William with excitement.

"Very well," said Mack as he called William back to his Pokéball. Mack then threw a Pokéball at Xavier and captured him again. Aura seemed worried as she saw Mack's Pokémon go into their Pokéballs. Mack sensed her anxiety.

"You won't see the inside of a Pokéball again as far as I'm concerned," said Mack. Aura breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at this news.

"You both should get going," said K-1, "I have the Hovercycle powered up and ready to go."

"Then let's get going. We have a long drive ahead of us just to get the nearest city," said Mack as he strapped his trusty FIW-59 Type A Elemental Pistol to his right thigh. Aura followed Mack closely.

"Take good care of our sister!" said Anna with an attitude.

"Will do!" said Mack as he hopped onto the hovercycle. Aura said her goodbyes and hugged her siblings. She also held the little girl, Sakura in her arms.

"I'll be back. You'll see!" said Aura as she winked at Sakura. Sakura giggled then walked back to her mother. Aura sat down on the hovercycle behind Mack. Aura rode side-saddle on the hovercycle and wrapped her arms around Mack.

"The embrace Pokémon," said Mack with some laughter, "Are you ready, my friend?"

"Let's go!" said Aura. With that, Mack started up the hovercycle and slowly rode down the streets of Gardev: past the Gardevoir memorial statue and past Paul's shop. The people of Gardev walked into the streets to say goodbye to Aura, the Guardian of Gardev and to Dr. Mack Foxx, the honorable mercenary. As they drove out of town, Aura gazed into the deep-blue, sapphire pendant, wondering who her life-long mate would be. As Mack and Aura disappeared from view, Glacian stood by Warren. Something seemed to be bothering Glacian.

"What's troubling you, my old friend?" asked Warren with concern.

"That mercenary, Dr. Mack Foxx: he has an unusual fate ahead of him. I can only hope that he'll be able to cope," said Glacian.

"What do you mean? What have you foreseen?" asked Warren. Glacian stood silent.

"Is Mack going to be killed?" asked Ramirez.

"No," said Glacian, "He has something else ahead of him that could either empower him or destroy his mind."

**-41-**

Elsewhere, Cecil was standing before Master Greevil at Cipher headquarters. Master Greevil was enshrouded by shadows and could not be seen.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Cecil," said Master Greevil.

"I know," said Cecil.

"I should have you demoted to being a lowly foot soldier once again," said Master Greevil.

"If you would hear me out, I think you'll change your mind," said another voice from the shadows. The voice was raspy and dry.

"You really think so?" asked Master Greevil with surprise.

"If you would only permit me to explain, you will see my point and will gladly pardon my dear friend Cecil," said the voice.

"Very well," said Master Greevil, "I don't think there is a word you can say that can change my mind about this, but feel free to explain, Dr. Namwen."

"Thank you, sir," said Dr. Namwen as he stepped out of the shadows. Dr. Namwen looked just like Dr. Newman. They were identical twins, but Dr. Namwen was a mirror image of his brother. His gray eyes were portals to the madness that ruled his powerful mind. Dr. Namwen pressed some buttons on a control panel. Moments later, a view screen descended from the ceiling and turned on, showing an image of the Guardian of Gardev with Dr. Foxx.

"The alien mercenary and the Guardian of Gardev: so what?" demanded Master Greevil.

"Thanks to Cecil's leadership, we now have the very technology that this alien uses at our disposal. I have learned much thanks to my brother's work: Project Epsilon, the Seismic Generator and even about the most powerful Pokémon in existence: Mewtwo! Plus, we now have the prime candidate for Project XD001!" said Dr. Namwen.

"I know of these accomplishments and also about your brother. Especially how he betrayed us," grumbled Master Greevil.

"But, my dear brother's research will continue with me. I will use his discoveries and that alien's technology to realize your dream, master," said Dr. Namwen, "There are limitless possibilities between that alien's technology and my brother's work. Trust me; we need to continue to have Cecil as a high-level leader here in Cipher. After all, he's the one who helped me steal all the information that my brother had concerning his projects and the alien suit of armor that now sits at your feet." Master Greevil looked down from his throne to see a group of troopers carrying the strange suit of armor on a stretcher.

"Very well," said Master Greevil with an unseen grin, "I forgive you, Cecil. At least you didn't lose this alien weapon."

"Thank you, sir!" replied Cecil as he saluted his boss.

"I owe you, Dr. Namwen!" said Cecil with happiness.

"Indeed you do," thought Dr. Namwen, "But you have no idea what this is going to cost you…"

To Be Continued…


End file.
